The Wrath of Thirteen
by Duck Life
Summary: "If it's a war they want, then let's give it to them." That was the promise Chase made. Now the Elite Force needs to live up to it, battling 13 shapeshifting siblings and trying to juggle young adulthood at the same time.
1. Into the Frying Pan

The doors to Centium City Hospital slide open and Oliver barrels through carrying Douglas. Kaz, Skylar, Bree and Chase follow close behind him. "Oh!" a nurse says, running out to meet them, glancing over their uniforms. "It's the, um, the Neat Force!"

"Actually we're the _Elite_ Force," Oliver corrects her.

"Not the point," Kaz says.

"Hi," Bree tells the nurse. "My father got hit by one of those shapeshifters. He needs help."

"Right this way." The nurse leads them down a hall on the left and helps Oliver lay Douglas' unconscious body out on a stretcher. Some doctors start to wheel him away and Bree and Chase try to follow them, but the nurse holds up a hand to stop them. "As soon as he's stable, we'll come and get you," she says gently. "But right now they need to work."

Chase watches them cart Douglas away with one hand on his sister's shoulder, and it occurs to him that he doesn't hear Bree call him their father a lot. This might be the first time, actually.

He hopes it's not the last chance.

* * *

In the waiting room, Kaz feels restless. Being in a hospital just reminds him of the hospital he used to spend every day in. "I feel so... useless," he confides in Chase as the minutes tick by. "If Mighty Med were still around, I could do something. Not just for Douglas, but for everyone else who got hit by the swarms tonight."

"Not really," Oliver points out, looking up from the Highlights magazine he's been engrossed in. "Normos couldn't go inside Mighty Med."

"Well… well, that was wrong," Kaz says lamely. "Anyone who's injured because of a supervillain should get the right treatment, whether or not they're a superhero. We can't expect ordinary doctors to be able to help with this kind of thing."

"Yes we can," Chase says quietly. Kaz notices belatedly that he's gripping the arms of his chair too tightly and his knuckles have gone white.

"You're right," he says, ducking his head. Kaz can only imagine how he'd feel if that was _his_ dad/uncle in there. "They're good doctors. They know what they're doing."

But what exactly was the treatment for a charged, concentrated blast from a powerful shapeshifter?

Bree can't stop pacing back and forth across the waiting room. With her super speed, she's literally starting to bore a hole in the floor. "Hey," Skylar says, grabbing her by the elbow and stopping her. "Douglas is going to be okay."

"You can't know that," Bree says bleakly.

Skylar frowns. "What if I told you that I used my time traveling ability to jump into the future and I saw that Douglas was fine?"

"You don't have a time traveling ability."

"Yeah, I was hoping you forgot that," Skylar sighs. Stepping forward, she throws her arms around her friend and hugs her tightly. "I know Douglas, though, and I know this team. He's going to be okay, Bree."

Finally, after what feels like ages, the nurse from before returns to the waiting room. "The doctors have done all they can for right now," she says. "You can go and see him, but it'll probably be a while before he wakes up."

Kaz, Skylar and Oliver all look over at Bree and Chase. Because even though they're worried too, they can see the divide. Douglas is their mentor and friend— but he's Bree and Chase's family.

Chase squeezes Bree's hand and the two of them follow the nurse down the hall.

Douglas looks incredibly pale and too, too still. Only now that he's lying in a hospital bed does it occur to Bree and Chase how animated he normally is. When he's on his feet, Douglas talks a mile a minute and gestures even faster, his hands always flitting around like crazed insects. Now, he looks like he's been frozen in a block of ice.

Again.

"This is all my fault," Chase chokes out, sinking into a chair beside Douglas.

Bree puts a hand on his shoulder. "I wish you would stop saying that." She sits in the chair beside her brother and reaches for Douglas' limp hand. "Douglas wouldn't want you to say it."

"Don't talk about him like he's already… like he's already…" He can't say it.

"I'm sorry," Bree says, leaning over and resting her head on his shoulder. The light pressure makes him feel a little better… but only a little. "We're going to figure this out, you know. We're going to be okay."

"Yeah," Chase says, fidgeting agitatedly. "I'm going to go get some water." He leaves, jostling her a little on the way out.

When the door swings shut, Bree scoots closer to Douglas. "Hey," she says quietly, holding his hand with both of hers. "If you were waiting for Chase to leave the room before you woke up… he left." She holds her breath, but nothing happens. "Just kidding. I know you don't blame him."

Douglas remains still and impassive, betraying nothing. His chest rises up and down— too shallowly, in Bree's opinion.

"I don't know if you can hear me," she says. "I don't know if you're even still… _here_ , you know? But if you are… if you're in pain, if you're really hurting and you just want to let go…" She sniffs, letting the tears track down her face. "You can let go. It's okay. We'll be okay, and I'll… I'll make sure Chasey is okay, and Daniel, and Adam." She's full-on crying now. "You can go, if you need to go. It's okay. It's okay."

When her eyes are finally dry, but Douglas still hasn't opened his eyes, Bree gets up and walks outside. In the hall, she almost bumps into Skylar.

"Oh, hi," Skylar says. "Is it okay if I go in and see him? I'm just so worried."

Bree feels too dazed to give a real response. She just shrugs and mumbles something about going to get a Coke, leaving Skylar to slip into the room and see Douglas for herself.

The vending machine around the corner steals her quarters. Irritated, Bree glances around to make sure the coast is clear before she zaps the thing with her "flashlight hands." The light inside flickers a couple times, the buttons beep, and then her Coke finally drops down— along with a whole row of iced tea and Mountain Dew.

Bree shrugs and opens her Coke, using enough finesse to keep the shaken soda from exploding all over her. Drink in hand, she heads back to the waiting room, where Skylar has apparently rejoined Kaz, Chase and Oliver.

"Hey," Bree says. "Did you guys get a chance to go see Douglas?"

She's talking to Kaz and Oliver, but Skylar answers. "No, we were giving you space. If you're okay with it, though, I'll go in now."

Bree blinks. "What do you mean?" she says to Skylar. "You already… you were just…" Confused, she points down the hall toward Douglas' room. And then it clicks, for her and for Skylar. "Oh no."

Skylar and Bree superspeed to Douglas' hospital room and arrive just in time to open the door and see "Skylar" leaning over the bed, her hand splayed above Douglas like she's about to annihilate him.

"Get away from him!" Bree yells, charging up a proton ring and flinging it at the imposter. The girl flies into the wall but recovers quickly, straightening up and scowling at Bree. Before their eyes, she morphs into herself, a young woman with dark hair and fierce eyes.

"Who are you?" Skylar demands. Behind her, the boys catch up with them. Chase has his laser bo in hand.

"I'm Reagan," the girl says with a smirk. "And I was just finishing up what my sister started."

"You mean Reese?" Oliver asks, watching her over Skylar's shoulder.

Reagan rolls her eyes. " _No_ , Rihanna." She squares up into a fighting stance. "Say goodbye to the old man."

"I don't think so." Kaz sidesteps around Bree and aims a burst of flame in Reagan's direction. But she's faster than him, and counters with her own plume of flames.

"You have fire-based powers too?" Chase yells.

"Yep." She redirects her fire toward Douglas, but Chase _pulls_ her forward with molecularkinesis. Flustered and now trapped in the hall, Reagan doubles down and throws a fireball at Skylar, who redirects it. Scorch marks dot the wall. Chase runs in the room to make sure Douglas is okay while the fight continues in the hall.

Kaz dukes it out with Reagan, but you can only fight fire with fire for so long, and she's more experienced than him. Eventually, he starts to get worn out.

And then Oliver steps in. A well-timed blast of ice hits Reagan in the chest and she recoils. Before she can power up another fireball, Oliver shoots her with a jet of cold water. "This is a no-smoking zone," he quips, finishing her off with a huge wave of ice until she's completely encased, frozen.

In the aftermath, Bree, Skylar, Kaz and Oliver stand there in shock, exhausted and alarmed. And then they hear Douglas shout, "What the heck just happened?"

"You're okay!" Bree squeals, turning to see Douglas leaning on Chase in the doorway.

He hugs her and then turns to look at Reagan. "Is that a shapeshifter?"

"It was," Skylar says.

"Now she's a shapeshifter popsicle," Kaz grins.

Douglas leans closer to inspect Reagan and the mass of ice she's stuck in. "Sister, I've been there," he says wryly. "And I feel for ya."

* * *

When everything calms down, Skylar makes a call and a couple of men in capes and masks from the League of Superheroes show up to take Reagan away.

"Where is she going?" Bree asks.

"Mighty Max," Oliver explains. "It's a special prison for supervillains."

"Good job subduing her," one of the men says to Oliver. "You said she's related to the men who destroyed Mighty Med?"

"She's their sister," Kaz says. "And… there's something else. They infiltrated our files. The shapeshifters… they have the list of superheroes. And they're going to start picking them off one by one if we don't stop them in time." He frowns. "I'm sorry we couldn't keep the information secure." Behind him, Chase shifts uncomfortably.

"We know about the situation," another man tells him. "Crossbow has been keeping us informed… thanks to you two, I believe. She says you saved her life."

Oliver looks mildly embarrassed but Kaz beams with pride. "We sure did."

"Well done." The men take hold of Reagan, nod to Oliver and Kaz, and then teleport out, leaving the Elite Force alone in the hospital hallway.

"Good news," Bree tells her friends and teammates. "The nurses say they want to keep Douglas overnight, but then tomorrow he's good to go home." They smile; it's nice to finally have good news. "He says he's going back to Mission Creek to recuperate."

"Sweet!" Kaz says. "No adults. We can stay up late playing Wii Bowling."

"Uh, no, we've got work to do," Skylar points out. "It's great that Crossbow was able to get the word out to the other superheroes, but Reagan's got a lot of brothers and sisters we need to stop."

"She's right," Chase says. "We need to be on our toes, eyes and ears open. Until every shapeshifter is locked up in Mighty Max."

"And then," Kaz says, "we can stay up late playing Wii Bowling." They all laugh, but it's a little uneasy, because they all know what happens now.

The job's not done. The war's not won.

It's just getting started.


	2. Two for the Price of One

Chase, Bree and Skylar traipse into the penthouse, having returned triumphantly from the Centium City DMV. "I can't believe you never had a driver's license before," he says to Skylar.

She shrugs. "I can fly. Why would I need to drive?"

"It's not for driving, it's for getting into R-rated movies," Bree says, pulling out her own license and waving it at Skylar. "Plus, look how adorable my picture is."

Skylar grabs Bree's wrist so she can inspect the license. "Bree, this says your 18th birthday is… today?"

"Oh. Huh. Look at that," Bree says, taking her hand back so she can look at the license herself. "Happy birthday to me, I guess."

"You don't sound excited," Skylar notices.

Chase grabs an apple from the counter and perches on a kitchen stool. "We didn't really do birthdays growing up," he explains, munching his apple. "It's kind of just… another day."

"Yeah," Bree says. "It's not really a big deal." She shrugs. "I'm going to go downstairs and see what Oz and Kaliver are up to. I mean… you know what I mean."

When she disappears down the hyperlift, Skylar whirls toward Chase. "We have to throw Bree a surprise party."

"We really don't."

"Come on!" Skylar insists, tracking him across the living room. "She'll love it. For my sixteenth birthday back at Mighty Med, Oliver and Kaz threw me a party and it was so nice. It made me feel really special. I want Bree to feel that way." When Skylar puts her mind to something, she's a force of nature. It's not hard to see how she got the superhero name Skylar Storm. "Will you help me?"

Chase sighs. "I guess I don't have anything else going on today."

"Yay! I'm going to go buy balloons." And she's out the door before Chase can get another word in.

* * *

Down in Mission Command, Kaz and Oliver are deeply involved in examining the cyberdesk schematics— or at least, Oliver is. Kaz is hard at work cracking glow sticks and connecting them to form a giant glow stick loop.

"Oh, hey, Bree," he says when she materializes in the hyperlift. "Here!" Kaz places a glow stick crown on her head. "Now you're a princess."

"I'm a queen," she corrects him. "Oliver, what're you working on?"

"I'm trying to get us access to the superhero network," he says. "I also want to set up a better security system down here so that no one besides the five of us can get in," Oliver says, concentrating on the panel in front of him.

"Hi!" their neighbor AJ says, strolling in from the tunnels.

"Obviously the security system still needs work," Oliver grumbles.

"Hey, kiddo," Bree says, squeezing AJ into a side-hug. When they first met the kid, Bree found him annoying, but now she thinks of him like another little brother. Or a weird nephew. "How'd that school science fair go?"

AJ looks confused for a second, but then his face smooths over and he smiles. "It was okay," he says. "I didn't win, but the judges seemed impressed. Why wouldn't they be?" He gives them a cheeky grin and then zeroes in on Oliver. "Whatcha doing?"

"Trying to keep some very bad people out of our home," Oliver answers.

"Hey," Kaz points out, "you're always sneaking in here. Maybe you can help."

AJ grins. "Sure! Just… let me know where your weakest spots are and I'll figure out how to improve them." Again, he gets a weird look on his face. But then he smiles again and Bree decides not to worry about it. "Let's get to work."

While AJ and Oliver focus, Bree and Kaz compete to see who can launch rubber bands the farthest distance across Mission Command. It doesn't really accomplish anything at all, but it's great stress relief. Up until Kaz leans over and snaps a rubber band against her arm.

"Ow! Leo!"

Kaz stares at her. "Why'd you call me Leo?"

"Because you were annoying me," she says. "No, seriously though, I read about this online. When you get people's names mixed up it's because you store them in the same place in your head, and if somebody reminds you of somebody else that's why you might slip up and call them the wrong name. Which is why last week when Oliver wouldn't stop droning on about cellular biology, I accidentally said 'Can it, Chase' instead of 'Can it, Oliver.'"

"Neat," Kaz says. "You should see my house. My mom usually has to go through Kenny, Kevin and Kyle before she gets my name right."

* * *

Upstairs, Skylar's going a little bit nuts with streamers and balloons. "Do you think this is too much?" she asks Chase. He blinks. The room is almost unrecognizable, and he can barely see out the windows.

"Maybe a little."

"Oh, well, Bree deserves a little over-the-top," Skylar says, waving a hand dismissively toward him. "We should send out some invites! Who should we invite?" She doesn't even give him a chance to answer; she just bulldozes ahead. "I'm thinking AJ and Terry, and maybe Tasha if she can make it. What about your brothers, do you think they're too busy at the academy?"

"Skylar."

"Yeah?" she says, whirling around to face him. There's a streamer stuck in her hair.

"Are you okay?" Chase says, approaching her cautiously like he might walk toward an injured animal on the side of the road. "It's just, you're being a little… manic."

She shrugs. "I just really want this to be perfect for Bree."

"Okay," Chase says. "I get that. But… you don't need to make up for 18 years of missed birthdays. You know that, right? It's more than enough that you're celebrating just one."

* * *

Down below, Oliver's scribbling something furiously on a sheet of graph paper. Bree leans over his shoulder to get a look at it, thinking he's doing schematics for security purposes. She finds out otherwise. "Are you just writing 'Mr. Oliver Storm' over and over?"

Oliver scowls and crumples up the paper. "Sorry! I daydream when I'm in a bad mood."

"Why are you in a bad mood?"

"You mean besides the fact that our base was compromised, the shapeshifters have the superhero list and we can't access the superhero network?" Oliver says. He sighs. "I don't think Skylar likes me."

"What do you mean?" Kaz says, looking up from fitting AJ with a glow stick bracelet. "She's dating you, isn't she?"

"Is she?" Oliver says, slumping against the console. "We've been on a few dates, but she never seems like she's having fun. And whenever I get near her she moves away. We've never even kissed."

"You haven't?" Bree says.

Oliver looks embarrassed. "I mean, I _want to_. I just don't think she wants to." He slumps even lower, his shoulders sagging. "Sometimes I think she just agreed to go out with me because it would make me happy. And I mean, that's nice of her, sure. But I want her to be with me because it makes _her_ happy."

"Anybody want a Capri Sun?"

Oliver glares at Kaz. "I'm pouring my heart out here, man."

"I know," Kaz says. "It's riveting. Made me thirsty. You want Pacific Cooler or Strawberry Kiwi?"

"... Strawberry Kiwi."

"Aces. Bree, you in?"

"No thanks," she says. "I'm a grown-up."

"Your loss. AJ?"

"I'm good."

"Two Strawberry Kiwis coming right up." Kaz goes into the hyperlift and waits for the telltale jerk in his stomach as the machine rockets him up to the penthouse. It's always like a fun ride. Bree and Chase usually say it's just like the hydroloop but faster and vertical, but he's never been on their hydroloop back on the island. He'll have to take their word for it.

"'Sup, nerds," he says, strolling out of the hyperlift landing past Chase and Skylar… and AJ. "Hey, how'd you get up here?"

"I only live a floor below you," AJ points out, not looking up from his tablet.

"He came to help decorate for Bree's surprise party," Skylar explains from where she's hovering near the ceiling, attaching balloons to the light fixtures.

Kaz looks from AJ to the hyperlift, back to AJ, back to the hyperlift. "How long have you been up here helping out?"

"About twenty minutes," AJ says. "Why?"

"One sec." Kaz disappears back down the hyperlift and shows up in Mission Command.

Oliver looks upset. "Hey, where are the Capri Suns?" Kaz ignores him and storms across the floor, making a beeline toward AJ. When he reaches the small boy he grabs him by the front of his shirt and pushes him against the wall.

"Who are you?"

"Kaz, what the hell?" Bree says, blurring toward him.

"Not now, Bree," Kaz says with iron in his voice. "Who are you?" he asks again.

The kid looks scared. "I'm AJ," he insists. "I'll leave if you want…"

"Jesus, Kaz," Bree says, putting a hand on Kaz's shoulder. "Leave him alone. What's going on?"

"This kid can't be AJ," Kaz explains. "Because AJ is upstairs."

Oliver appears over his other shoulder. "Well, how do you know that one's the real AJ and this one's the fake? How do you know it's not the other way around?"

Slowly, Kaz turns to look at them.

A minute later, the four of them show up in the penthouse, Kaz with a firm grip on AJ-who-might-not-be-AJ. "Team meeting," he announces, frog-walking the kid out of the hyperlift.

When Skylar sees Bree she shrieks and tries to stand in front of the decorations. "Bree! You can't be up here!"

"Shh, Skylar," Chase says, holding a hand out. He sets down the knife he's been using to frost a chocolate cake on the counter. "Kaz, what's going on?"

"We have two AJs," Kaz explains, shaking the one in his custody and pointing to the other one. "But we only ordered one."

"Ooh, it's like the riddle with the two doors and two guards," Chase says. "We can only ask them one question."

"We can ask them as many questions as we want," Skylar says, glaring between the two AJs. "One of them's a shapeshifter and we need to figure out which one."

"I've got this," Oliver says, tugging the other AJ toward the one that Kaz is holding so he can look at them both evenly. He takes a deep breath. And then— "Shapeshiftersayswhat?"

"What?" Both AJs chorus.

Oliver shrugs. "Okay, I'm out of ideas."

"Step aside," Bree says. She steps up between the two AJs, looking kind of dangerous. Kaz doesn't know what her plan is, but it's gotta be good. Bree leans down… and says, "Eenie meenie minie moe…"

"Oh no," Chase says.

"Catch a tiger by the toe," Bree continues, pointing back and forth between both AJs. "If he hollers let him go, eenie meenie minie WET WILLY." With that, she sticks a damp pinky finger in each of the boys' ears.

The AJ on her left says, "Gross!" but the AJ on her right snaps, " _Reagan_!" And then immediately claps his hands over his mouth, looking horrified.

Bree grins. "There we go," she says, smiling at Kaz.

"Wasn't Reagan the pyrokinetic girl from the hospital?" Chase says.

"Yeah, and judging by that reaction, she's also this kid's annoying sister," Bree says, gripping the fake AJ by his upper arm. "So what do you really look like, kid?"

Grimacing, he morphs into his regular form— a thin-looking boy with dark bangs that fall into his eyes. "You don't know what you're getting yourselves into," he says darkly. Beside him, the real AJ backs away nervously. "I will bring the Elite Force to its knees."

"What, so we can look you in the eyes?" Kaz jokes. The kid's a good five inches shorter than him. "What's your name, anyway?"

The boy's eyes swivel around the room, taking in each member of the Elite Force. "Reid," he says. And then all the balloons in the room pop suddenly, causing all of them to jump. In the confusion, Reid shrinks down into a rat and scurries off somewhere to hide.

"Don't let him get away!" Chase yells, already going to hit the button for the hyperlift. "He's probably going to try to get out through the tunnels."

"The decorations are _ruined_ ," Skylar laments.

"It's okay, I got a chance to see them," Bree says, grabbing her hand. "Come on, let's go check out the tunnels." They step into the hyperlift with AJ, Kaz, Oliver and Chase.

The hunt is on.

* * *

In the tunnels, they all split ways, Bree with Skylar, Kaz with Oliver and Chase with AJ. "Did you know I was really me?" AJ asks nervously, walking alongside Chase. Now that they know for sure, Chase realizes he was the one who had been upstairs the whole time.

"Yyyeah," he lies. "I knew the whole time, buddy. Never doubted you."

"Because I want to help," he says earnestly. "I know I'm only an honorary member of the Elite Force but this place is my home, too, you know. In fact, it's been my home longer than it's been yours."

Chase stops walking so he can take a good look at AJ. He's almost 11 now, close to how old Chase himself was when he declared himself Mission Leader. "I'm glad you want to help," he says finally. "Because we really do need all the help you can get." He tiptoes forward and looks around the corner; the coast is clear.

"What did he do to make all those balloons pop?" AJ asks.

Chase frowns. "My guess is some kind of power to control atmospheric pressure."

"So if the air feels cold or thin down here, we know we're getting close," AJ realizes. Chase glances down at his protege.

"Yeah," he says. "Yeah, that's right."

* * *

Along a different length of tunnel, Oliver and Kaz plod on, eyes peeled for any rodents. "So," Oliver says, crossing and uncrossing his arms. "Do you think Skylar likes me?"

"You're dating!" Kaz says, exasperated. "Just let it go."

"I don't want her to be with me if she's unhappy," Oliver complains. "I know I get clingy and obsessive sometimes, I'm working on that. But I really do just want her to be happy. She's like… she's just the best, you know?"

"Having watched her shave off her back scales, no, I don't know," Kaz says. Suddenly, a rat scampers between their feet. "That's him!"

Unfortunately, a whole horde of rats follow the first. Oliver screams and clings to Kaz. "I am not giving all of those things wet willies!"

A voice calls out from another tunnel, getting closer. An all too familiar voice. "Reid, stop!" Rodissius. While the rest of the rats scatter, one stands its ground in the center of the tunnel, nose pointed toward the source of the voice.

Chase emerges from a tunnel on the other side and captures the rat in a forcefield. Bree walks out of the opposite tunnel. "Gotta say, superheroes are cool," she says, "but you just can't beat good old bionic voice manipulation."

Before their eyes, the rat transforms back into Reid, looking sullen. "Kaz," Chase says, "call Mighty Max."

"How dare you use my father's voice?" Reid demands of Bree, sounding like a child wearing his dad's boots. "After you nearly killed him? How dare you?" Chase shoots a questioning look at Bree but she just shakes her head. Until now, Skylar was the only one who knew she attacked Rodissius with her flashlight hands.

Bree, Oliver and Chase stay in the tunnels with Reid until superheroes from Mighty Max show up to take the shapeshifter away. Meanwhile, Skylar, Kaz and AJ return to the penthouse to blow up what few balloons they have left.

"I'm not letting any shapeshifter stop Bree from having the best birthday party ever," Skylar announces, looking determined as she tidies up latex scraps from all the popped balloons. "AJ, make sure the cake is still fine."

AJ glances up with a big smear of frosting on his upper lip. "Yeah, it's fine."

"AJ!"

Kaz blows up the remaining balloons and strings them up around the penthouse. It still looks spectacular, even missing a couple balloons. Skylar even made a banner that reads HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BREE painted in all colors of the rainbow. She hangs it up above the kitchen counter.

"Okay, Chase just texted me," Kaz announces, hopping over the arm of the couch. "Reid's on his way to Mighty Max and Bree's on her way up here."

"AJ, get the lights," Skylar orders, crouching behind an armchair. The hyperlift arrives at the penthouse floor and Oliver and Chase step out.

"Skylar?" Bree says, following the boys out of the hyperlift.

"Surprise!" Skylar jumps out from behind the chair and attack-hugs Bree. "Happy birthday!"

"Wow!" Bree says, hugging her back before taking a look around the room. "What a surprise," she adds in her most sarcastic voice.

"I'm sorry," Skylar starts, "you weren't supposed to see it before—"

"Skylar, it's great," Bree says. "Besides, I've had enough surprises for one day." She pecks Skylar on the cheek and then glances over her shoulder. "Is that cake?"

Kaz goes to light the candles on Bree's birthday cake. On the other side of the room, Skylar reaches up to touch the place on the side of her face where Bree kissed her. It feels warm.

"Can I blow out the candles now?" Bree asks excitedly.

"First we have to sing," AJ says authoritatively. "What is this, your first birthday party?"

"Kind of," Bree says.

" _Happy birthday to you_ ," Chase starts, and Skylar and the rest of them join in. " _Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Bre-e. Happy birthday to you!_ "

When Skylar watches Bree blow out the candles, she can't help but wonder what she wished for.

Kaz gets some music playing and Chase and AJ distribute cake to everyone. Out on the terrace, Oliver finds Skylar looking out over the city.

"You should be inside," he comments. "This whole party was your idea."

Skylar looks over her shoulder at Bree playing flip cup with her brother. "Bree's having a good time," she says. "That's what counts."

Oliver puts an arm around her and amazingly she doesn't shake it off. "I missed you today," he says. "And you look really pretty."

"Thanks," she says. He draws closer to her. Music from inside the apartment drifts onto the terrace. Feeling brave, Oliver shoots his shot. He leans forward and presses his lips to Skylar's— their first kiss.

It's short and sweet. To Oliver, it's perfect. He smiles at her, buzzing with glee, before getting awkward and saying, "I'm going to go see if there's any more cake left."

"Oh, okay," Skylar says. "I'll be here."

When he turns his back, her smile falls.

* * *

Inside, Chase starts stacking up plastic cups destined for the trash can. "So," he says to Bree, "you attacked Rodissius." It isn't a question, but she can tell he's looking for answers.

"He's a bad guy, I'm a superhero," she shrugs, not looking at Chase. "Do the math. You love math!"

"You're sure there wasn't another reason?" he says, giving his big sister a knowing look.

Bree sighs, leaning her elbows against the kitchen counter. "Yeah, okay, it's just… It was the way he talked to you. The way he and Reese _played_ you, I mean, I was furious! So, yeah, I attacked him. I told him… I said to him, 'Nobody messes with my brother.' And then I zapped him."

Chase pulls her into kind of a surprising hug, but it's nice. Bree hugs him back. "I meant it," she tells him.

"I know," he says. "Happy birthday, Bree."


	3. The Teaching Assistant

"Chase, can I talk to you?"

Chase almost jumps out of his skin when he hears Skylar speak. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" he scowls, scooting over on the couch so she can sit beside him. It's past midnight, and in his opinion people should know better than to be prowling around in the dark.

Skylar flops down beside him. "Don't you have bionic hearing?"

"Yeah, and bionic anxiety," he says. "Give me a second for my heartrate to slow down."

She doesn't. "Chase, how did you know you were bi?"

His head swivels to look at her. "I think the more important question is: how did _you_ know I was bi?"

"I saw it on your blog."

"You read Chase Chat?" he says, clearly moved. "Uh, I mean, never mind. Wh-why do you want to know?" He looks closer at her; she looks upset, not her usual too-cool alien self. "Skylar, what's going on?"

"I don't know," she sighs, looking up at the ceiling instead of at him. "It's just lately I'm starting to feel like I'm… playing a part in my own life. And there was this great big transition between Caldera and Earth and sometimes I think I missed some things along the way like making friends and going to the park and falling in love, and it's just that recently I'm starting to think maybe I'm different than how I thought I was. I mean, maybe I think differently or feel differently and I should deal with that, right? I shouldn't just ignore that, right?"

Chase blinks, trying to process all that. It's a difficult task even for his bionic brain. "Skylar…" he says gently, closing his laptop so he can give her his full attention, "are you saying… I mean… what are you saying?"

"I'm saying… maybe I'm starting to realize that things I thought I liked… I don't actually like," she says carefully. "Like, for example… boys."

"Are you… you think you might be gay?"

"I don't know!" she wails, burying her face in a pillow. She resurfaces, face blotchy with stress. "I couldn't sleep; I've been going over and over this in my head. I tried so hard to like Oliver, I really did. He's so sweet and he loves me so much. And yet… nothing. I had this friend, Experion, and I know he had a crush on me back on Caldera. But I would look at him, and… nothing! I mean, look." Taking him by surprise, she grabs Chase and kisses him. "See? Nothing!"

" _Thanks_ ," he says sarcastically. But then he gets serious. "Skylar, if you don't like boys, that's okay. That's who you are. Do you— and you don't have to answer this, but do you like girls?"

Slowly, Skylar nods, her eyes fixed on the floor. "I'm starting to think about things, things I tried really hard not to think about for a long time. Like… you remember my friend Crossbow?" Chase nods. "I used to have the _biggest_ crush on her. And I just ignored it because I didn't want to deal with it."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Chase sighs, thinking about high school and regrets and Jake Chambers. "It's not too late, though. You can be happy and be yourself and it'll be okay. I promise."

Skylar wipes away a couple stressed-out strung-out tears before smiling at him. "Thanks for talking to me, Chase," she says, standing up. "I guess I have some stuff to think about. Um, I'm gonna try to get some sleep." She glances at him, still dressed in his regular clothes. He hasn't even taken his shoes off. "You should get some, too."

"Nah, I've got work to do," he says, his eyes suddenly jerking away from her. "Hang in there, E.T."

"You too… Humany McHuman," she says, aiming finger guns at him before heading up the steps to hers and Bree's bedroom, leaving Chase alone in the living room.

* * *

When Bree returns from an impromptu shopping trip the next day, she finds Kaz poring over notes at the coffee table. She actually has to do a double take to confirm that they aren't detailed doodles of comic book characters. "What are you up to?" she asks, setting her department store bags down on the counter.

Kaz glances up like he didn't notice her when she walked in. "Oh! Hey, Bree. I'm trying to study for this biology exam I have coming up."

Bree looks at him with concern and then drops her voice. "Is Chase making you do this?"

"Haha, no, I started taking classes at Centium City Community College," he explains. "I've been thinking… I miss Mighty Med. I miss helping people. And with the shapeshifters using the superhero list to take out all the superheroes, this town could use all the medical attention it can get. So I'm going to get a nursing degree."

Bree looks him over, impressed. Kaz does have a tendency to latch onto an idea and then let go of it after a day or so, so she's not entirely sure what to think just yet. But if he's really dedicated to this, it might go well. He's definitely got the bedside manner down. When she got sick last month, Kaz was the best at taking care of her. Chase wouldn't even go near her because he didn't want to get sick and Skylar kept suggesting gruesome-sounding Calderan home remedies.

"That's really cool, Kaz," she says. "I'm proud of you."

"Aw, thanks Mom," he jokes, flipping through his flashcards. "You wanna quiz me?"

"Nope."

* * *

Chase thinks he's found peace and quiet down in Mission Command… until Oliver comes strolling out of the hyperlift. "Hey," he says. "You seen Skylar?"

"Um…" Based on his last conversation with her, Chase gets the feeling that Skylar may be avoiding Oliver until she figures out what and how she feels. He doesn't want to spill her secret, but he also doesn't want Oliver asking questions. "She's bound to be around here somewhere," he says unhelpfully.

Instead of leaving, Oliver sits down in one of the stools across from Chase's workstation. "I think she's avoiding me," he says, spinning himself in the stool. Chase doesn't want to tell him he's right so he says nothing. "And I kind of think she's got the right idea."

That gets Chase to look up. "What?"

"Well, you know how sometimes when you're watching a TV show and you're really rooting for two characters to get together and you just know it's gonna be great? And then they do get together and it's nice for like an episode or two but then you start missing back when they were just good friends."

Even with a world of statistical analysis and formulated responses at his fingertips, Chase can't fathom the reply that's going to get him out of this conversation soonest. "You should probably talk to Skylar," he says. Their weird little game of telephone is starting to wear him out, especially because _he's_ the telephone.

"Yeah, I guess I should," Oliver agrees, heading for the stairs to look for her.

* * *

Bree is walking down the sidewalk tracking a Tauros on Pokemon Go. (Oliver and Kaz got her hooked about a month ago and even though the game's kind of silly, she loves it. The only annoying part is she can't run when she uses it or the app won't register her movement.)

She almost bumps into Kaz as he's on his way back toward the penthouse, a graded scantron in his hand. "Oh, hey," she says, glancing up from her phone. "How'd the test go?"

"Huh? Oh, uh. It was great, I got a B," he says, but he looks distracted and upset about something.

"Well congrats," Bree says, half her attention on Kaz and half on catching the Beedrill in front of her. "Kaz, what's wrong?"

"I mean, probably nothing," Kaz shrugs, tucking his test score back inside his shoulder bag. "I don't know. Maybe something. I'm not really sure."

"Spit it out, candlestick."

"I think my TA might be a shapeshifter," Kaz says finally.

Bree stares at him. On her phone, a wild Tauros appears.

* * *

Skylar perches on the roof of the penthouse, staring out at the city spread beneath her like a model train set. She can the college a couple blocks away from her, she can see the video game store on the other side of the city, she can see little dots moving around in the park, little dots that must be families and couples.

From up here, it's impossible to see if the couples walking in the park are comprised of two men or two women or a woman and a man. That's what she's thinking about when Oliver flies up to join her.

"Hey," he says, and Skylar knows she's got to be ready for this. Now or never.

"Hey," she says.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Bree says, marching toward Centium City Community College with Kaz hurrying to keep up with her. "Your TA is a shapeshifter and you know this because he's 'too cute to just look like that'?"

"No!" Kaz says, scowling at her. "No, that wasn't part of my explanation that was just a secondary observation. His name's Roderick. He has these notes on his laptop about developing a serum to make bionic abilities fizzle out."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah!" Kaz flails his hands when he talks, reminding her a little bit of Douglas. "There's this girl in the class that I'm kind of in a feud with so I was trying to see what grade _she_ got on the test—"

"Kaz!"

"— and I opened his laptop and there was all this sciencey stuff on it!"

"'Sciencey stuff'? On your biology TA's computer?" Bree says flatly. "Ohh, yeah, there's something there," she adds sarcastically.

"It was about neutralizing bionics," Kaz says. "It definitely said that. It even talked about super speed and molecularkinesis. He's coming after you and Chase."

"Why wouldn't he be working on a way to shut down superpowers?" Bree says, beginning to walk even faster. She doesn't want to believe Kaz, but he's getting more and more believable. "You, Oliver and Skylar are just as much of a threat."

"Maybe he's taking it one step at a time?" Kaz suggests. "Or maybe he already knows how to take us down."

* * *

"Hey," Oliver says, walking up to Skylar. "I've been looking all over for you."

"I was up here."

"Yeah, I got that," Oliver sighs. "I have to tell you something."

"Oh, I actually have to tell _you_ something."

"I think I should go first," Oliver says.

Skylar's thing is that she's gay and doesn't want to go out anymore. She can only imagine what Oliver's thing is. "No, I _really_ think I should probably go first." What if he came to say he's taking her on a trip? What if he came to say he bought her a really nice necklace and she's trying to break up with him?

"Rock paper scissors?"

"Yeah, okay." Skylar holds her fist out and so does Oliver. On three, they shoot— Skylar goes for scissors and Oliver goes for rock. "Alright, you win."

"I think you and I shouldn't be together." Wait, what? "Skylar, you're amazing. And gorgeous. And you smell really nice. But I was in love with the cardboard cutout version of you. I never liked you the way you're supposed to like a real person, I liked you like you were a celebrity. I mean, really, like you were a superhero. I was your fan before I was your friend, and… I think, maybe, I was more of a fan to you at times when you really needed a friend. And I'm sorry."

"Oliver, you don't need to apologize."

"But I _am_ sorry," he says. "For being creepy. For making you uncomfortable, for obsessing. I got so obsessed with cardboard Skylar, and I didn't treat you like you. And that was wrong. And… you deserve to be with someone who loves the actual Skylar more than cardboard Skylar. I love you… as a friend. I think we're better off as friends, anyway."

It's like teetering on the edge of a cliff, then realizing there's a safe and simply staircase down to the bottom, with a bannister on the side for stability. She's rarely felt so relieved. "Oliver, I… think you're right," she says. "Thanks for saying all that. You and Kaz are the best friends I've ever had, and… I don't want to lose that just because you and I aren't dating."

"You won't," Oliver promises. "So… what was that thing you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh!" Skylar says, scratching the back of her neck. "Oh, you know what? It doesn't really matter anymore."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Skylar says, fidgeting with her hair. "Yeah, I just… I'm glad you came and talked to me." She and Oliver hug, and it feels like it's supposed to feel, familiar and warm and friendly. It's like finally getting to where they were meant to be.

* * *

Kaz walks lightly, careful not to be too loud in the empty halls of his community college. He's glad Bree believes him, but worried that he might have dragged her down here only to be proven wrong.

He's also kind of worried about being proven right— what if Roderick _is_ a shapeshifter? Can he and Bree take him on alone?

"Hey," Bree whispers, speeding to a stop beside him. He glances over— and frowns.

"Why are you wearing that?" She's got on a sorority rush t-shirt.

"Oh! I'm pledging Kappa Delta," Bree says. He rolls his eyes at her. "What? As long as I'm here, I'd like to have the full college experience."

"Focus," he grouses, pausing outside a door. "Okay, this is Roderick's office. But I don't know if he's in there."

"Leave it to me." Bree concentrates, and then her whole body disappears.

Kaz starts. "I always forget you can do that."

"I know, right? So do I." Masked with invisibility, Bree moves toward the door and swings it open, just slightly. She didn't need to worry; Kaz's TA isn't inside. Maintaining her invisibility just in case, Bree creeps across the office and leans over Roderick's desk, where his laptop sits. She flips it open, but it's locked by password. "What do you think his password is?" She types something and hits enter. Access denied. "It's not 'shapeshifter99.'" She looks around the office for some clue to the password— or the TA's identity— but sees nothing. "I don't know how we're gonna prove that Roderick's a shapeshifter."

"Uh, I think it's confirmed now."

Kaz's voice sounds strained, so Bree looks up— and sees him in a headlock, caught by a smirking man in slacks and a button-down shirt. Roderick. "Maybe… that's just his way of saying hello?"

"No, I'm definitely a shapeshifter," Roderick says cooly, wrenching Kaz's neck a little bit. Kaz winces. "What are you doing in my office, Bree Davenport?"

"Uhhhhhh…" Bree responds, panicked. "Go Kappa Delta?"

* * *

Back at the penthouse, Oliver can't stop pacing across the living room floor. Chase makes his way down from the boys' bedroom, engrossed in the book he's reading. He stops in his tracks and watches Oliver for a moment. "So you talked to Skylar, huh?"

"Yeah," Oliver says. He looks simultaneously sad and relieved. "It's weird. Being obsessed with Skylar was such a huge part of my life, and now… it's not like it's gone, but it's like I'm looking at myself from outside myself. You know what I mean?"

"Not really," Chase admits, shutting his book. "But I'm glad she told you."

"Huh?"

"About being gay," Chase continues, oblivious to Oliver's confusion. "I'm glad she told you."

"She, um…" Oliver shakes his head. "What? Skylar's gay?"

Chase's whole head goes into red alert. "Oh," he says, mouth pressed into a thin, nervous line. "She didn't tell you?"

"No," Oliver says.

"Oh!" Chase mentally curses himself— and his Commando App, honestly, never coming to his rescue when he actually needs it. "Well…" Mercifully, his phone buzzes. Chase glances down to see Kaz calling him, and he immediately answers the phone. "Gotta take this, sorry Oliver, bye," he rambles, stepping out of the apartment and into the safety of the car. "Hey, buddy. You have no idea how glad I am that you called."

He listens for Kaz to say something back, but no one speaks on the other line. "Kaz?" He hears rustling, shuffling and the distant mumble of voices. "You butt-dialed me again, didn't you?" Chase sighs fruitlessly into the phone. He's about to hang up when his bionic hearing picks up on the distant murmurs. … _and when I'm done you'll wish you'd only had to deal with my brother._

 _Let go of him!_ That's Bree, her voice higher than usual. Scared. Chase's throat goes dry. Kaz and Bree are in danger. From the sound of it, one of Roman and Riker's brothers has them under his thumb.

Chase doesn't pause, doesn't think— a rarity for him. He just opens up Find my Friend on his phone and starts running.

* * *

Roderick has Kaz and Bree tied up with bungee cords and zip ties he had stashed in his office. "This actually explains a lot," Kaz admits ruefully, watching Roderick leer down at them. "So you were only giving me good grades to lure me into a false sense of security? To keep an eye on me?"

Roderick looks confused. "No? Those were your actual grades."

"Oh. Sweet!"

"You're a great student," Roderick says. "It's a shame I have to kill you." He opens a desk drawer and pulls out a deadly-looking syringe filled with something orange. "It attacks your nervous system. Makes you compliant, truthful… cooperative. And then it slowly kills you."

"Okay, you're getting a _terrible_ course evaluation at the end of the semester," Kaz screeches, trying to hide behind Bree despite being restrained.

"Look, we'll do what you want," Bree says helplessly. "We'll answer your questions, take you into our home, whatever. But don't kill us." Kaz knows she's lying to buy them time, but it's still weird to hear Bree metaphorically roll over like that. Usually she's the defiant, spitting-in-the-face-of-danger one.

That toxin looks scary, though.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Roderick says. "This?" He holds up the syringe. "This guarantees you'll tell the truth."

He advances toward Bree first and there's nothing she can do. For the first time in her life, she can't run. She can't jump with her feet restrained. Without her hands free, she can't throw a proton ring or use her flashlight hands. She could probably turn invisible, but what good would it do? She'd still be sitting here.

As Roderick draws near, Bree turns and stares helplessly at Kaz, but with his hands bound he's in the same boat. A couple sparks fly from his fingertips, but the zip ties coupled with the fear keep him from doing anymore.

Just as the needle grazes Bree's arm, the office door unlocks seemingly by itself and swings open. "Get away from my sister."

Roderick hesitates, surprised, and it's enough of a delay for Chase to use his molecularkinesis to throw him across the room. He barrels into the office, looking around wildly before he spots Kaz and Bree.

"Oh, thank God," Bree says. "Chase, Skylar and Oliver are here."

"No, it's just me."

"We're doomed."

Chase rolls his eyes before stooping down behind her and working to undo the bungee cords. He grabs a pair of scissors from Roderick's desk and cuts her free, but that's when Roderick gets his footing and lurches toward them.

Freed, Bree hurls a proton ring at the shapeshifter and knocks him down again. Chase starts working on getting Kaz out of his bonds.

"How'd you know to come here?" Kaz says, rubbing his wrists gratefully once he's out of the zip tie. "You didn't put GPS trackers in our necks like dogs, did you?"

"No," Chase says. "Actually, I _stopped_ Douglas from doing that. You butt-dialed me."

"Awesome," Kaz says. I never thought I'd be so grateful for my own butt." Chase helps him up and Kaz, once standing, pulls him into a hug. "Thanks, Chase."

"Anybody got the number for the league of superheroes?" Bree says, standing over Roderick with a proton ring in her hand. He looks worried.

She's glad.

* * *

Across town, Skylar stands at the edge of the terrace, watching all the busy moving parts of the city. She doesn't hear Oliver step out behind her until he's right next to her. "Hey."

She shrieks, tumbling over the railing in her surprise. Fortunately, she catches herself midair and flies back up. "Don't spook me like that."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Oliver stammers. "Just wanted to check on you."

She dusts off her shirt, embarrassed. "I'm okay."

"I know," Oliver says. "You're okay. You're completely fine, I know that. Skylar, there's absolutely nothing wrong with you or the way you—"

"Oh, jeez, Chase told you," she says. "For a little guy, he's got a big mouth."

"Were you planning on telling me?"

"Y- _yes_ ," she insists. "But then you broke it off and I figured you didn't need to know."

"Skylar, I'm not your boyfriend anymore but I'm still your friend," he says. "I… understand that you might not be ready for me to know that you're gay, but I know now and… and I care. About you. About your life. And if you want to talk, I'm here."

Skylar nods, tucking her hair behind her ears. "You helped me figure it out, you know."

"Okay I know you're from another planet, but here on Earth, that's generally not something guys who dated you want to hear."

"Oh, shut up," she says, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "I mean that… when we were dating, I just kept thinking about how sweet you are, and how brave. And I realized that if I were ever going to fall for a boy, it would be you. But…"

"You don't like boys," Oliver finishes for her. She nods. "That's fine. That's _wonderful_ , Skylar, I'm… I really am glad that you figured this out. And I'm glad you shared it with me… even if that didn't happen the way you meant it to."

"Come here." Skylar wraps him into a hug, her chin balanced over his shoulder. "Oliver, I love you. Not in the way you wanted me to, but I do. You're one of my closest friends…" She backs away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I mean, I know you and Kaz have always been kind of a package deal, but as far as I'm concerned, he's the 'get one free.' You're the 'buy one.'"

"I thought Chase was the bi one," he quips.

"Shut up!"

Bree, Chase and Kaz walk in, tired but successful— well, except for Kaz, who's worried that his new TA won't be as good as Roderick. "Look, I get that he was evil and tried to kill us and stuff, but he had some great study tips!"

"Hey," Skylar says, waving to them as she and Oliver walk back into the apartment. "I'm lesbian."

Silence. And then Kaz says, "I thought you were Calderan."


	4. Par-annoyed

Kaz marches into the penthouse, proudly showing off the tank in his arms. "Everyone, meet my new best friends, AKA the class pets in my ecosystems class, AKA the— Oliver, give me a drumroll." Without looking up from his comic book, Oliver starts drumming on the edge of the coffee table to give Kaz some dramatic emphasis. "AKA, the _amazing_ SEA MONKEYS!" Kaz finishes with a flourish, setting the tank on the kitchen counter. "Check 'em out, they're so cool!"

Bree looks impressed; Skylar looks a little afraid. Chase just looks annoyed. "They're technically brine shrimp," he says. "Not sea monkeys. And that whole thing is a tired, jaded marketing ploy." Right now, Chase looks like the one who's tired and jaded. "If you're supposed to be learning actual science, why are you doing it with sea monkeys?"

Kaz shrugs. "I dunno. It's fun." He points at a speck in the tank. "Look, I named that one after you."

Chase zeroes in on the brine shrimp with his microscopic vision, inspecting the tiny things meandering around the tank. He shrugs and mumbles, "Okay, maybe they do look kind of cool." Kaz beams.

* * *

Oliver announces later that he's going to go to Mighty Max and visit his mother. Kaz and Skylar both look concerned. "Are you sure you're up for that?" Skylar says, brows knitting together.

Oliver nods. "She's my mom, guys. I can't just pretend she doesn't exist."

Besides, it'll be good to get out of the penthouse. It was his decision to break up with Skylar, but it's still a little bit awkward being around her right now. Oliver grabs a sweatshirt and vanishes out the door, shoving his hands in his pockets as he heads into the city.

The guards at Mighty Max are nice enough to him. They know him as an Elite Force member— but they also know who his mother is. "Hey, guys," he says, waving and trying to look nonchalant. The guards give him twin head bobs and let him get on his way.

The woman known as Mr. Terror sits quietly in her cell, fiddling with what looks like a Cat's Cradle made out of shoelaces. Oliver's mother never let him play with Cat's Cradles when he was a child— or even as a teenager. She told him it was too easy for him to get the string tangled around his neck and strangle himself.

"Hi, Mom," he says.

Bridget looks up, startled, and then her face breaks into a smile. It's been months since he last saw her, and she hasn't changed much. Her hair is still perfectly curled in a severe kind of way, and her eyes are just as stern. "Ollie! Sweetie, it's so good to see you."

He nods, stuffing his hands back in his pockets. "You too."

"What have you been up to?" she asks, tossing her Cat's Cradle aside and coming to stand in front of him, watching her son through the pane of glass at the edge of her cell. "I was so worried."

"Sorry I've been too busy to come visit," he says. In his nervousness, his stomach feels just as tangled as the Cat's Cradle. "Lots of stuff going on. Big stuff."

"I can watch the news sometimes," she tells him, her face falling. "They said… Ollie, they said on TV that you were bionic now. Is that true? Did that… that _monster_ Donald Davenport shove a horrible bionic chip in your neck? Are you even human?"

"Mom, Mom, calm down," Oliver says, hands up. "I'm not bionic. That's just what we tell everyone so my identity stays secret. But… I'm really a superhero. When I touched you while you were touching the Arcturion, it gave me superpowers." He doesn't say it also gave Kaz superpowers.

She never liked Kaz.

"Oh, honey," Bridget says, her hand on the glass like she can reach through it and smooth his bangs over or pat him on the cheek. "I never wanted you to get hurt. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know that, Mom," Oliver mumbles.

"I still don't want you to get hurt," she says. "I don't want you playing superhero. You could get badly injured. You could get killed!"

Oliver shakes his head, staring at his mother. The truth is, he feels safer in the penthouse with his friends than he ever felt with his overprotective supervillain mother. "I can take care of myself, Mom," he says. "And if I can't, I have people who can take care of me. I'm okay, really."

"It's dangerous, running around like you do," Bridget says, frowning at him. "You're not strong enough, Ollie."

"You're wrong about that," he says. "I'm strong now and I was strong back then. I'm strong enough to help people, Mom. And you know what? I was strong enough to stop you."

He turns before she can see him tearing up, because that's _so_ not what he needs right now. Bridget starts to say something else, but he's already gone, walking away with his shoulders held straight.

His boots echo on the floor of Mighty Max. Lost in thoughts of his mother, he doesn't notice whose cell he's walking past until it's too late.

"Hey." The pyrokinetic from the hospital— Reagan. "It's Oliver, right? The ice guy."

Oliver turns to give her the worst stink-eye he can muster. "What do you want?"

"Flaming Hot Cheetos," she says without even thinking about it. "There's a vending machine down the hall. Could you help a girl out?"

Oliver stares at her, flabbergasted. "You… you're asking me for Cheetos?"

"Flaming Hot Cheetos," Reagan specifies. "Please? I'm like dying. All they give me in here is gross prison food."

"You're in prison!"

"'Men are only prisoners of their own minds,'" she quotes. "Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

"'I'm not getting you any frickin' Cheetos!'" Oliver shouts. "Oliver!" He turns on one heel and starts to storm off, already exhausted with this conversation.

Reagan watches him leaving. "You were here to visit your mom, right?"

"I'm not discussing this with you," he says coldly. But he stops.

"I just think it's interesting," Reagan points out, and she doesn't sound cruel and sinister. She sounds genuinely thoughtful. "Your mom's a supervillain, but you're not. And my dad's one, and so am I."

Oliver scoffs. "You're a supervillain? How many people have you actually taken out?"

Reagan glares at him, looking mildly embarrassed. "I'm not discussing this with you."

"Right," Oliver says, kind of amused. "Look, if this is one of those 'we're not so different, you and I' villain talks, you can save it."

"Don't worry," Reagan says, watching him on the other side of the glass. "We are actually pretty different. I mean, you grew up thinking your mom was a Normo. I grew up thinking my dad was a hero." She shrugs. "Turns out we were both wrong."

Oliver stares at her. He wants to ignore everything she's saying, but he can't. There's something in her eyes, something real. He sighs. "Vending machine is this way?"

Reagan smiles. "Cheetos are E4."

* * *

That night, when Kaz wakes up to pee he notices Chase's capsule is empty, even though it's past midnight. Before Reese, he was always an early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of nerd, but lately Kaz is noticing more and more that he isn't in the capsule when he and Oliver fall asleep and he isn't there when they wake up.

After he uses the bathroom, Kaz pads around the penthouse looking for Chase. He checks the kitchen and the terrace and the living room, but there's no sign of him. So he stumbles, sleepily, into the hyperlift and goes to check Mission Command.

When he gets there, he surprises Chase, who knocks an Erlen Meyer flask off the desk. It shatters even as he lunges to grab it, and suddenly there's a long gash on Chase's hand decorated with a widening smear of blood.

Kaz swears. "Are you okay?" he says, running to Chase and kneeling beside him, wary of the broken glass.

Chase looks embarrassed— and exhausted. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he says, not sounding believable. " _Stupid_."

"No, hey, let me look at it." Kaz takes Chase's hand and makes sure it's clear of glass fragments. "I'm sorry I spooked you."

"It's not your fault," he says. "I'm just jumpy."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you don't sleep," Kaz tuts, putting an arm under Chase's elbow and easing him down into a seated position. "Sit tight. I'm going to clean up that glass and then get my med bag and patch you up."

There's a broom in a sliding panel beside the hyperlift, as well as a dustpan and a wastebasket. While Chase sits slumped against the cyberdesk, looking pale and miserable, Kaz swiftly sweeps up the mess of shattered glass and tosses it in the trash. He grabs his med bag, which is black and covered in dollar store stickers, from the other side of the room and returns to sit across from Chase on the floor. Wordlessly, he holds out his hand for Chase's hand.

"The good news is, it doesn't look like you need stitches." Kaz pours rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and gently dabs at Chase's hand, wiping away the blood. Chase doesn't even flinch, even though it must sting at least a little. "Seriously, Chase, you need to be getting more sleep."

"I'm fine," he says listlessly. "I'm still okay to do missions, the team's not in any danger."

"I'm not talking about the team, I'm talking about you," Kaz says. "You've been looking like a zombie lately. I just want you to take care of yourself." He glances up and gets hit with a sudden yearning to reach out and run a hand through Chase's hair, smooth back his bangs. Kaz refocuses on the task at hand: Chase's hand. "You've got nothing to feel guilty about, if that's the problem," he says.

Chase shakes his head, watching Kaz layer gauze over the wound and tape it down. "I'm the one who trusted Reese," he says. "No matter what, that's my fault."

"You should forgive yourself," Kaz says frankly. "I forgive you. I don't blame you at all, really." He recaps the alcohol and puts it back in his bag, along with the gauze and medical tape. Chase's hand is clean and bandaged, on its way to healing. "There. All better."

Behind them, the video screen fizzles to life and a cruel voice drawls, "Aw, does Chasey need a Bandaid?"

Chase and Kaz leap to their feet. "Reese," Kaz acknowledges, scowling.

"How did you access our monitor?" Chase demands.

"Cleverly," she says, watching them from the screen. "Chasey, you should probably go and see a _real_ doctor, you know. Would hate to see you get an infection and die before I'm done with you."

"What do you want, Reese?" Kaz says, feeling like he wants to step in front of tired, injured Chase and protect him from the woman on the monitor.

"Just wanted to say hi," she says. "I hear you put my brothers and sister in jail. You're still outnumbered, though. And you won't win."

"Save it," Kaz says. "Unless you have anything important to say, we're going back to bed."

She smirks. "Not together, I hope? Unless you're into that." Chase's ears redden. "I just wanted to check up on you. And let you know that even if you think you can stop me and my family? You can't. You're obviously not strong enough, and you aren't going to get lucky again like you did before."

"Don't you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?" Chase says, showing off a sudden burst of confidence. "When this war is over, you're going to be in pieces."

Kaz, realizing where he's going with this, cringes. " _Don't say it, don't say it…"_

"Reese's Pieces!" Chase declares triumphantly. Kaz facepalms beside him.

"See you around, Chasey. And… other one," Reese sneers. "Oh, and Chase? If I were you, I would be keeping my friends close. And my enemies closer. You never know who might be both. And you never know… one of my siblings could be right there in your apartment with you."

She cuts the stream, leaving them in darkness and quiet. "Come on," Kaz sighs, tugging on his arm. "Let's go get some sleep."

Chase pauses for a moment, then follows Kaz to the hyperlift. "What do you think she meant by that?" he says as they get in.

"I don't know, she was trying to mess with you," he says. He hates seeing what Reese does to Chase, how defeated and self-conscious he gets. "Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, I guess," Chase says, tucking his bandaged hand against his side.

But Chase does worry about it. All night, and all the next day. What did she mean, "you never know who might be both"? Was Reese implying that one of his friends was really his enemy?

Since they first found out they were fighting shapeshifters, Chase has kept that worry tucked away in his vast bionic brain, that one of his teammates could be an imposter. He kept the thought tucked away but it was there, growing, parasitic.

And now Reese was all but confirming his worst fear. A shapeshifter lives in the penthouse. A member of the Elite Force is lying, he thinks. He watches Bree flipping through a magazine. Is she really reading the pages or is it a cover, something for her to pretend to look at so he won't know she's spying on him? He watches Oliver lift the couch one-handedly to vacuum under it. Does it make sense for Oliver to have super strength? Chase isn't sure anymore.

Within hours, all his friends become suspects.

* * *

Oliver nods hello to the guards at Mighty Max and sweeps past them, not turning down the corridor where his mother is kept but going a different direction. "Hey," he says awkwardly when he reaches Reagan's cell. "We were talking yesterday about how behind you were on the comics you like so…" He holds up an issue of _Batgirl._ "I thought I'd help."

The corner of Reagan's mouth twitches up. "Well. Thanks," she says, sitting up. She'd been lying on the floor, fidgeting with her hair. Now she sits cross-legged, watching Oliver through the glass. Like she's waiting.

"Oh," he says, crouching down and clumsily copying her criss-cross applesauce posture. "So um…"

"Will you read it to me?"

He looks up, surprised. For a hardened villain, she acts so much like… well, a girl. Just a scared kid like him. "Yeah, sure," he says, opening the comic book. It smells good— that glossy-paper smell of a new comic. "First panel. We open on Gotham City…"

* * *

Bree can tell Chase is a little edgy. She doesn't realize exactly _how_ edgy, though, up until he ignites his laser bo for no apparent reason. "Lemme guess," she says from the couch. "There's another spider?" He doesn't answer. "Chase, just get Skylar to kill it. You don't need your—"

"Is it you?" He's so quiet that at first she isn't sure what he said. And then a second later she hears it.

Nervous now, Bree sets her laptop down and stares at him. "Is _what_ me?"

"If you're a shapeshifter, just— just tell me, now, and maybe I'll go easy on you," he says, glaring at her with such intensity that she's actually convinced he might hurt her.

"Chase—"

"Don't! Don't lie to me and pretend to be my sister if you aren't my sister." His eyes are wide, wild, and he's swinging the laser bo around himself without any of his usual finesse. "Don't lie."

"Just… calm down," she says, standing up. It was the wrong move. He gets even more upset, bringing his laser bo up in case he needs to defend himself. "Chase, I swear, I'm not lying to you."

"That's what you would say if you _were_."

Kaz and Skylar come down from upstairs then, looking confused and alarmed. "What's going on?" Skylar says.

Chase pivots toward her, bo in hand. "Don't come any closer!" he says, gaze shifting between Kaz and Skylar. "One of you is a shapeshifter, and I _know_ , you can't trick me anymore. Maybe— maybe more than one of you. I'm not falling for another trap."

"Chase," Kaz says, holding his hands up. "I know Reese really shook you up. But I _promise you_ , I'm Kaz. The real Kaz. The same guy who built our supersuits with you. The same guy who loves pranking Oliver with you."

"No, no, no," Chase says, shaking his head. "For all I know, you could've been a shapeshifter this whole time. Maybe the real Kaz died when Mighty Med blew up."

"Chase, calm down," Bree says, but then the door swings open and Oliver walks in. For a second, everyone freezes.

Then Chase turns and bolts upstairs.

"What the hell was that?" Oliver says, wheeling around to look at everyone.

Kaz steps forward. "I think I know what's going on. Last night, Reese buzzed into our video feed and… _implied_ to Chase that one of us was a shapeshifter. I think she knew how much it would mess with his head."

Abruptly, Bree whacks him on the back of the head. "And you didn't tell us?"

" _Ow_ ," Kaz says indignantly. "I didn't think it was that important."

"Didn't think it was that important?"

"Don't whack me again!"

Bree groans. "I'm gonna go check on him." She blurs as she runs upstairs. Almost immediately, she runs back down. "He's not there. I think he went out on the roof… and he locked the door behind him."

They all run outside to the terrace and look up. Sure enough, there he is, silhouetted against the moon like a very anxious Batman.

Bree stares in horror at her brother, perched up above them at the edge of the penthouse roof. "How do I know any of you are who you say you are?" Chase shouts. "How do I know I can trust even one of you? And how do I know you haven't been shapeshifters this whole time?"

"Is he going to jump?" Oliver whispers.

"Whether or not he went up to jump, he's going to fall," Skylar says back.

Kaz backs up, getting ready to fly up toward Chase. "I'll talk to him."

"No." Bree puts a hand on Kaz's arm. "I'm his sister. It should be me." She crouches and then turbo leaps toward the outer wall, using her enhanced agility to climb up toward the roof. She swings herself over, landing in the thin crust of snow left on the roof from yesterday's flurries. "Hey," she says to Chase to casually.

"Stay back." His eyes are wide and his face is white, and he looks so much younger than he is. At least he put away his laser bo— for now. "Stay back. I'm warning you."

"Okay." Bree stands with her palms facing him, her hands outstretched. "Okay. Just talk to me. Tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

He glares at her, and it's not a look she's used to seeing directed toward her. It's the look Chase gave Victor Krane, and it's the look he gives every shapeshifter they come across. "I can't trust my own eyes," he says slowly. "And I can't trust any of you. I _won't_. For all I know, you've been lying about who you are this whole time."

She considers him for a moment. "Mr. Davenport lied about who he was for our whole lives," she says. "He lied about who _we_ were. And I'm not saying that was the right thing to do, but he had a reason. And he's still our dad." She sighs, her shoulders settling. "There's… there's something I never told you, you know." She shuffles forward a couple steps and he doesn't object. "The reason I wanted superpowers so badly… the _real_ reason. It wasn't just because I was number 3 on AJ's list. I mean, sure, that stung, but that wasn't the whole thing. It was because… you were last. And I knew that you were last because you didn't have offensive powers the way Skylar, Oliver and Kaz do. Because you're so smart and you've got your force fields, but if we're in a fight you're not as much of a threat as everyone else. And I realized that I couldn't protect you by running or jumping or copying someone's voice. I needed more. I needed more to be able to keep you safe, Chase."

Chase just watches her cautiously, like a frightened animal.

"I am really your sister," Bree promises. "I'll swear that on a stack of Teen Vogues, okay? But if you can't believe that… then at least believe that I'm someone who loves you and cares about you. And someone who wants you to come inside and talk this out with us."

Chase's eyes flicker uncertainly between his sister and his friends down below. His problem has always, always been that he trusts too easily. Now that holes have been blown in that trait, he's drowning.

But Bree makes sense. A lot of sense.

And he'd really like to go back inside.

"Okay," he says, hands trembling in the cold. "Okay. Okay."

"Come on." Clinging tightly to her baby brother, Bree turbo-leaps them down to the terrace and corrals him inside, along with the rest of the Elite Force. "You're okay. It's okay. I get it; you got scared."

Kaz and Oliver keep exchanging looks, their faces white. "I told you," Kaz says to Chase. "Reese was messing with you."

"I know," Chase says, bobbing his head. He looks embarrassed and kind of miserable. "I just… why say anything? Why say, specifically, that someone in the apartment was a shapeshifter?"

"To get inside your head, Chase," Kaz says. His hand lurches out strangely, like he wants to put a hand on Chase's shoulder but thinks better of it. "She was just saying random stuff to mess with you."

Skylar cocks her head to the side. "Actually… maybe she wasn't." Without hesitating, she steps forward and blasts Kaz's tank off the counter.

"My sea monkeys!" Kaz yells.

Bree's about to ask Skylar what she was thinking… but then she sees it. Among the water and shattered glass on the floor, something's changing, shifting and morphing with that telltale swirl of black fog. Something too small to see changes into an amorphous blob— and then into a very pissed-off young woman.

Hair sopping wet, she spits a small flume of water toward Skylar. "Congrats. You figured it out, Martha Martian."

"I'm from Caldera," Skylar says, holding a hand out, ready to strike again. "That's xenophobic."

"You were one of the sea monkeys this whole time?" Kaz gapes. "... How'd you convince the other ones you were really one of them?"

* * *

They call the superhero league, keeping the woman— River— in check until the superheroes arrive to cart her off to Mighty Max. Kaz mourns his sea monkeys, collecting what he can from the floor and flushing them down the toilet.

"A burial at sea," Chase comments. Now that he's calmed down some he's in a remarkably better mood. Bree walks up and pokes her head in the bathroom to watch Kaz saying goodbye to the sea monkeys.

"Hey, Chase," Bree says, turning and looking at her brother. "Turns out River had empathic amplification abilities, too. She can amp up feelings in people around her— happiness, sadness… paranoia."

Chase sighs. "So that's what was going on."

"Yeah," Bree says, ruffling his hair. "Reese wasn't the only one messing with you."

Chase nods, content, and then he disappears down the hall, hopefully to get some sleep. As the water in the toilet bowl spins and spins, Kaz turns around to face Bree. "How'd you know River has those abilities?"

Bree blanches. "I didn't. Because she doesn't. Because I made it up." Kaz raises an eyebrow. "Look, Chase is already so freaked out, I don't want him thinking he's losing his head. If this makes him feel better, than I'm letting him believe it."

Kaz nods but says nothing, turning his attention back to his dearly departed sea monkeys.

* * *

In the living room, Skylar stops Oliver on his way out the door for a milkshake run. "Oliver," she starts, "I didn't wanna ask you in front of Chase when he was all… _whoo_." She makes a twirling motion with her finger beside her head. "But I did want to ask you… how come you've been to Mighty Max two days in a row?"

Oliver's eyes widen slightly, but then he just shrugs. "Just… catching up with my mom," he says.

Skylar smiles. "That's sweet."

"Yeah." If he looks a little shifty, a little nervous, Skylar doesn't notice.


	5. The Blackout

When the lights go out, Skylar and Bree almost don't notice. They're outside on the terrace, soaking up some rays from the sun (which Skylar annoyingly keeps calling Sol 17). It isn't until Bree tries to check Twitter on her phone that she realizes the WiFi is down… and so is all the electricity in Centium City.

Oliver is at Mighty Max when it happens, sitting cross-legged in front of Reagan's cell and reading her the latest _Poison Ivy_. Both of them look up, startled, when the lights flicker and then go out. They're quiet for a moment… and then Reagan ignites each of her hands.

"Hey, you ever see _Beauty and the Beast_?" she says, laughing quietly in the darkness. "Check it out. I'm Lumiere."

Chase is in the elevator when it stutters and dies somewhere between the forty-second and forty-third floors. He's in the elevator, but he's not alone— Kaz is there too.

He grins at him in the dimness from the emergency lights on the ceiling. "Heh," Kaz chuckles. "Spooky."

* * *

Back at Mighty Max, Oliver side-eyes Reagan, illuminated by her own fire powers. "I thought you couldn't use your powers in here, Candlestick."

"Usually that's true," she says. "But when the dampeners in my cell get cut off due to a blackout? I can light up as much as I want." Showing off, she juggles a couple of fireballs— poorly— before extinguishing them.

"Wait," Oliver says, looking up and down the corridor. "Does that mean everyone here can escape?"

Reagan stops, mouth dropping open. And then she tucks into a crouch and barrels outward— to no avail. The forcefield bounces her back. "Ugh," Reagan says, rubbing her forehead. "No. The power outage cut the dampeners but not the barriers."

"You were just trying to run away!"

"Was not."

"I _just_ saw you."

"Fake news." Suddenly, metal doors on either side of the hall drop down and seal the corridor— probably an emergency protocol for exactly this situation. Reagan winks at him. "Looks like you're trapped in here, too, Ice Boy. Not that I'm complaining. You're the best conversation I've had in a long time, even outside of prison."

"Yeah," Oliver says quietly, looking surprised. "Same, actually. I mean, I love my friends, they're incredible. Just I can't really talk to them about Mom stuff. I mean, Bree and Chase had a villain parent too, but he was never a _supervillain_. And besides, he's alright now. And Mom's still… Mom."

"At least she doesn't want you to take over the family business," Reagan points out. "It's like, I have 12 siblings who could be doing all this. Why does Dad need me? I could be doing something I _want_ to do."

"Like what?" All he really knows about her interests and hobbies are reading comic books and setting things on fire.

Reagan shrugs. "Archery. Crocheting. I like cats."

"So once you get out of here you could start a charity where you crochet sweaters for kittens. And… also sometimes shoot people with arrows." He frowns, corrects himself. "Bad people, though. People who deserve to get shot with arrows."

"You mean like my brothers and sisters?" she says. Oliver looks embarrassed. "It's… sad. To see them all go along with this. I mean, Reese was always kind of messed up, and Roman too. But a lot of them… this isn't who they are. Being evil is not who we are."

* * *

"Hyperlift still works," Skylar says, checking it. "That must be Mr. Davenport's backup generator. Mission Command is probably up and running too."

"Great," Bree says, sidling past her. "I'll go see if we've gotten any pings from the league of heroes or the police. If this blackout derailed a train or locked people somewhere dangerous, we should know about it."

"You go girl," Skylar says. "I'm… gonna go eat all the ice cream in the freezer before it melts."

Bree gets down to Mission Command and scopes it out. Just as she thought, all the monitors are blinking in just the right way. Everything's normal. She's about to check the cyberdesk when she hears the shuffling sound down the corridor.

Bree may not have her brother's bionic hearing but she knows what she heard. Charging up a just-in-case proton ring, she creeps toward the tunnel to the right of the hyperlift. There's that shuffling sound again, louder now. Closer.

Because she's not a victim in a horror movie, she doesn't call out, _Hello_? Instead she stays quiet and walks lightly on her feet, hoping to get the jump on whoever's in the tunnels. And maybe it's just a rat— a real one, not like Reid when he broke in. Maybe it's a mouse or a squirrel or something.

But maybe it's not.

Bree tiptoes around a bend in the tunnel and finds herself face-to-face with… " _Beyonc_ _é_?"

"Oh, um," says the Princess of R&B. She looks awkward, something the real Beyoncé probably never does. "Hi, I had a, um, concert in Centium City and I must have, um, gotten lost."

"Alright, drop the act, Queen Bey."

Before her eyes, "Beyoncé" shrinks down and transforms into a smallish, mousy-looking girl with wide, scared eyes. "She was the first person that popped into my head," the girl admits, embarrassed.

Bree squints at her. She's _young_ , maybe as young as some of the smallest students back at the academy. "What's your name? And don't say Sasha Fierce."

"R-Raina," she says, stumbling over it like she's scared. Is Bree really that imposing? She adjusts her posture self-consciously, uncrossing her arms. Sure this kid's a shapeshifter, but she's also a _kid_.

"That's an interesting name," Bree says. "I guess your dad got creative with the R- names once he got down to the last few. How old are you anyway?"

Raina tilts her chin up proudly. "Thirteen. And a quarter." Younger than Bree was when she first started going on missions with her brothers.

"You're thirteen and they sent _you_ to come attack us during the blackout?" Bree says dubiously.

Raina frowns. "No, they didn't send me. I heard my brothers talking about how I'm too young and weak to help Dad. Too little to do anything important. And I got mad. Then when the lights went out I figured it was the perfect time to come here. I sneaked in through the sewer tunnels!"

Bree looks her up and down. She's skinny and scared and absolutely the opposite of a threat. "Are you hungry?" Raina looks confused. "Are you hungry? Douglas keeps some Lean Cuisines down here. I'll hook you up."

She spins on her heel and leads Raina into Mission Command. If this is a trap, she's falling for it, hook, line and sinker. She just can't stand there in the damp, cold, dark tunnels looking at a little girl shiver.

Raina follows along behind her, a little hesitant. "We're… we're gonna do it, you know. Me and my brothers and sisters. We'll hunt down every last superhero."

"Of course you will," Bree says, patronizing. "Do you want chicken or beef?"

"... Chicken."

Bree grabs a chicken-and-almond dinner from a cabinet and zaps it with her thermo hands— better and faster than a microwave. She peels back the plastic covering and slides the meal across the cyberdesk toward Raina, along with a plastic fork. "Dig in, kiddo."

Raina pokes the chicken with her fork cautiously, like it might be a trap. But then hunger gets the better of her and she starts eating. "This is really good," she says with her mouth full, momentarily forgetting that she and Bree are supposed to be enemies.

Bree watches her scarf down the measly meal. "Your dad… feeds you, right?"

Raina hunches in on herself, looking embarrassed. "He's been too sick to, lately," she admits. "Riker's supposed to do the shopping and cooking, but he forgets a lot." And he's got thirteen mouths to feed, Bree thinks to herself.

"If you're still hungry when you finish that Lean Cuisine, there's more where it came from," Bree says.

* * *

Chase slides his back down the wall of the elevator to join Kaz on the floor, stretching his legs out on the thin carpet. "How long do you think this'll last?" he asks, not really expecting an answer. Why would Kaz know?

"Could be a minute," Kaz says unhelpfully. "Could be seven hours. But don't worry. If we get hungry, I have some gummi bears in my pocket."

Chase tries and fails to hold in a laugh. "No thanks."

"Your loss," Kaz says, popping a green gummi bear in his mouth. "They're warm." He chews thoughtfully for a moment, too nonchalant for Chase's taste. They're locked in an enclosed space with no conceivable escape, and his anxiety is getting the better of him. Meanwhile, Kaz is apparently fine.

"Can't you like… use your powers to burn our way out of here?" Chase asks.

Kaz snorts. "'Let's set a fire in a tiny windowless space that we're trapped in,' said the smartest man in the world." He nudges Chase's foot with his own. "C'mon, what's with the worrying? There are way worse people you could be trapped with."

"That's true," Chase agrees. Never mind the fact that Kaz, more than anyone else, tends to get his blood pressure up and his heart racing, tends to make his mouth go dry and his palms sweat.

Maybe his anxiety's not the only thing getting the better of him.

* * *

Oliver stretches out on the floor to mimic Reagan's position. Both on their backs, they mirror each other on either side of the forcefield. "So I've met your dad," Oliver starts. "What's the story with your mom?"

"That's kind of intrusive," Reagan says. "I didn't ask about your dad."

"You tell, I'll tell."

"Pinky promise?" Reagan holds up her pinky, crooked in a hook, and then glances at the rippling surface of the barrier. "Well, air-pinky promise?"

Oliver holds up his pinky finger, too. "Air-pinky promise."

"Okay," Reagan says, shifting her shoulders against the cold floor. "My mom died. A few years ago, back when Dad was still a hero. It was actually a supervillain who captured and killed her." She laughs without humor. "You'd think _that_ would've turned my dad into a villain, but nope. He didn't switch sides until he lost his powers. Because _those_ are what's important," she adds bitterly.

"I'm sorry," Oliver says.

"Don't be sorry, be chatty," Reagan says. "You pinky swore. So tell me— what's the deal with your dad?"

"I don't know," Oliver says. "I don't know who he is. My mom used a sperm donor. Which might be why she's so crazy-protective of me."

Reagan turns on her side to look at him. "You have no idea who your father is?"

"Nope," Oliver says. "I know that he's a white man who at some point in his life donated his swimmers." He shrugs against the floor. "My mom probably knows more, but I doubt she'd tell me." He turns his head and looks at Reagan. If it weren't for the flickering of the forcefield, they could be lying in a field together, watching clouds go by, or spread out on a blanket stargazing. They could be anyone else in the world but a villain and a hero, trapped in a superhuman prison together.

"Well, if he's anything like my dad," Reagan says finally, "you're better off not knowing him."

* * *

Skylar steps out of the hyperlift and into Mission Command to find Bree and Raina, apparently sharing a reheated chicken pot pie. She drops into a defensive stance and shoots a confused look at Bree. "Who's this?"

Bree's mouth drops open and a piece of pie crust drops out. "Um. This is Raina. You… might've met some of her siblings."

"There's a shapeshifter in Mission Command and you didn't tell me?" Skylar scowls, marching across the room and grabbing Raina's arm. "What's going on, Bree?"

"Look at her," Bree says, gesturing toward Raina with a fork. "She's like three feet tall. What's she gonna do?"

"Shapeshift into someone taller!" Skylar answers. "Bree, you should be more careful. But good job holding her here. I'll call the league of heroes and get her picked up. It might be hard to get ahold of them with the blackout, so—"

"Skylar, wait." Bree crosses the room and takes Skylar's other arm. She leans in, Skylar's hair brushing across her cheek as she whispers, "She's thirteen. We can't just send her to jail."

"I was her age when I started fighting crime," Skylar points out. "If you can fight crime at that age, you can commit it, too. And besides, she broke in here," Skylar adds, as if the girl they're talking about isn't right there. "And for all we know, she'll run back to her brothers and sisters and bring back more of them. And then we won't just be dealing with one little girl."

"Skylar."

"I'm calling the league," she says resolutely, going back toward the hyperlift. "Keep her here." Bree watches Skylar zoom away, leaving her in Mission Command with Raina.

* * *

Kaz sighs and turns to Chase. "You wanna play Truth or Dare?"

"No." He has to be stuck in this elevator, but he doesn't have to be stuck in an uncomfortable, potentially embarrassing situation.

"I'll go first," Kaz insists. "Truth."

" _No_."

"Alright, how about I just tell you a truth?" Kaz says. "Here's something you should know— Bree lied to you, after that whole thing with the sea monkeys. River doesn't really have empathic abilities. The only person controlling your paranoia… was you." Chase meets his eyes, upset. His one defense against the fact that he might be unfit to be in the Elite Force has shattered. "It's okay! It's okay, Chase. So you went a little overboard. We've all done that."

"No, no," Chase mumbles, shrinking in on himself, miserable. He endangered the whole team because he couldn't keep his emotions in check.

"Listen to me," Kaz says, sliding closer. He puts a hand on Chase's shoulder and even though Kaz normally runs hot, this feels warmer than usual, almost like a brand seared to his skin. Chase doesn't mind, though. "First of all, it's okay to be paranoid. Sometimes they're really out to get you. A lot of times, in our case. And second of all… you belong here. You belong on this team. Everyone gets upset and goes overboard sometimes. You might be bionic but you're a bionic _human_. And being human means… going a little overboard sometimes."

Chase can't help but lean into his touch. "It's just like… it's like my brain is constantly dragging me in fifteen different directions. And they're all bad," he says, not sure whether to laugh or cry. "With me, with my brain, everything is always worst-case-scenario."

"You just gotta learn to… turn it off sometimes," Kaz says, eyebrows drawing together as he draws closer.

"My brain doesn't turn _off_ ," Chase says.

"Then maybe you need a little help," Kaz says.

And then the elevator drops a few feet down to the forty-second floor and Kaz tumbles into Chase's lap.

* * *

Bree, in Mission Command, tries to figure out a way to keep a (mostly) (probably) innocent girl out of jail without turning on her team. It's a little like the time she and her brothers were threatened with federal incarceration.

That was different, though. She and her brothers were bionic heroes. Raina came from a family of supervillains. But does that make her a supervillain herself? All she's done so far is sneak into Mission Command and eat two of Douglas' TV dinners.

She could try arguing with Skylar, but Bree's pretty sure that once they find Chase and Kaz and Oliver, wherever they are, they'll side with her. And Bree can't go up against her friends. So what then?

"Do you think they'll put me next to my sister Reagan?" Raina asks quietly. Bree turns and looks at her, her mousy hair and her big, scared eyes. She's reminded, again, of being fifteen and terrified that the government was going to separate her from her brothers.

And then she's reminded of forty-odd bionic criminals crowding her home, looking for a place to be themselves and safe. And she gets an idea.

* * *

Kaz, sprawled across Chase's legs, feels torn between his embarrassment and his hyperawareness that he's _sprawled across Chase Davenport's legs_. He looks up, ready to apologize and shift away, but then he sees Chase's expression— eyes wide, pupils swallowing up the irises, mouth parted just slightly.

Kaz's heart lurches. And instead of moving away, he moves closer, angling his face upward. Until right now he hasn't worried about the oxygen running out in the elevator car. Now, it's like the air is thinning, like he'll suffocate if he doesn't get closer to Chase.

Chase, instead of shuffling away or looking disgusted, actually looks… hopeful. Happy. And he even moves his face closer to Kaz's, which is all the go-ahead Kaz needs. He shuts his eyes and presses upward, toward Chase's lips—

And hits something.

Kaz's eyes fly open and he locks eyes with Chase through the hazy blue of the bionic boy's suddenly summoned forcefield. Chase looks mortified, his hands flung upward projecting the forcefield between the two of them.

"Chase—"

But then the elevator doors slide open, finally, and Chase pushes himself up and scrambles away without another word.

* * *

The lights inside Mighty Max flicker back on, and if Oliver didn't know better he'd say Reagan looks disappointed. "Guess our slumber party is over," she jokes.

"I'll come back tomorrow," Oliver says, pushing himself back into a sitting position.

Reagan gives him an odd look— part surprise, part confusion, part amusement. "You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to," Oliver says. "I want to."

"Okay." Reagan stands, stretching out her legs and cracking her back. Oliver laughs at all the little pops her spine makes, knowing he's also going to be a symphony of sore joints when he stands up.

He crouches and then pushes himself into a standing position. "Well. It's been cool talking to you, Reagan."

She gives him a funny look. "Yeah, it's been cool talking to you, too. Oliver."

"Yeah," Oliver says, feeling awkward. "Alright, well. See ya." He leaves, glancing back only once to see the shapeshifter watching him through the shimmering forcefield.

* * *

A pair of caped and masked men from the league of heroes show up on the terrace at the same time Chase and Kaz walk into the penthouse from the hall. "Oh good, you're here," Skylar says, noting that the electricity's back on. "Where were you guys?"

"Nothing," says Chase.

"Nowhere," says Kaz.

"Awesome," Skylar says, rolling her eyes. She doesn't have time for whatever's going on with the guys. "Bree's downstairs keeping an eye on a shapeshifter that showed up. She tried to break into Mission Command during the blackout."

"Is she dangerous?" Chase says, immediately jumping into his role as a member of the Elite Force.

"She's Roman and Riker's sister," Skylar says matter-of-factly. "Of course she's dangerous."

She leads the men in masks and her teammates down to Mission Command, where Bree is standing by the cyberdesk with… no one.

"Bree, where's the girl?" Skylar demands, scanning the room.

"I don't know where she went," Bree says, rubbing her head like she's got a migraine. "She zapped me and ran off into the tunnels. She could be anywhere."

"We don't have time to go on a wild goose chase," one of the masked men says, but he doesn't sound necessarily mean about it, just like there's too much on his plate. "If you see her again, be sure to subdue her."

"I'm sorry," Skylar tells the men.

"Don't worry about it," the other one says. "Keep your eyes and ears sharp."

"You too," Skylar says. With Rodissius' children targeting superheroes, that means everyone in the league is potentially in danger as well, not just her and the Elite Force. The men disappear into the hyperlift and Bree turns to Skylar.

"I'm sorry Raina escaped," she says. "You were right; I underestimated her."

"It's alright," Skylar says, putting a hand on Bree's shoulder. "I'm just glad you're okay."

* * *

Skylar ultimately decides they should do a quick search of the tunnels just in case Raina is still hanging around, but she's pretty sure the girl fled too far for them to find. They look anyway, and Chase makes sure to look in the tunnel farthest from where Kaz is looking. Meanwhile, Bree goes back up to the penthouse to get some ibuprofen.

At least, that's what she tells the team she's doing.

What she actually does is step out of the penthouse and into the hallway. She shuts the door carefully, and then "Bree" shapeshifts back into who she really is— Raina.

"How'd I do?" she says to the empty space beside her.

Bree switches off her invisibility app and smiles down at the shapeshifter. "You're a natural. You sounded more like me than I do."

"You're sure I'll be safe?" Raina says nervously. "From your team… _and_ from my brothers and sisters?"

"I'm sure," Bree promises.

* * *

When the hydroloop arrives late that night, Taylor isn't surprised. She's been expecting it since Bree's call. A girl steps out, her wide eyes taking in the atrium, the view of the ocean, the large monitors.

Taylor smiles. "Welcome to the Bionic Academy."


	6. The 7-10 Split

"Chase, get over here," Douglas says when Chase steps into Mission Command. "I've got something to show you." Curious, Chase follows his uncle/father to the cyberdesk. Douglas unplugs a flash drive from his laptop and holds it out to Chase triumphantly. "Voila!"

Chase blinks. "It's a flash drive."

"The important thing is what's _on_ the flash drive," Douglas says. "I've been thinking about you and your stuff with Reese. And Sebastian." He frowns apologetically. "I mean, I don't know how much I'm supposed to know about that. But uh… I do know that you two weren't just friends."

Chase bites the inside of his cheek. "Did you bring me in here to bully me for my poor dating choices?"

"No, no, I want to help," Douglas insists. "So, as you know, emotions, including love, are really just bioelectrical impulses in the brain. You following me?"

"Uh-huh."

"So I figured out how to isolate and eliminate all the electrical impulses in the brain that are linked to romantic love," Douglas goes on. "Imagine— no more heartbreak. No more infatuation. No more crushes on people you'll never be with. No more getting screwed over by shapeshifters or bionic bad boys, etcetera etcetera." He waggles the flash drive in Chase's face. "I can install this program on your chip and _bam_. No more getting hurt. You won't even get lonely because your brain won't realize anything's missing. Tada!"

Chase stares at the flash drive, feeling his stomach perform little flips and lurches. He could make it all go away, his shame about Reese, the betrayal and loss he experienced when Sebastian turned on him. And he'd never need to risk feeling that again.

"Figured I'd give you a little bit to think it over," Douglas continues. "I know it's a big step. But if you're ready for it, I'll be ready to install it."

"Thanks," Chase says. He takes the flash drive from Douglas and flips it over in his hand a couple times before slipping it into his pocket. "Uh, Oliver picked up some reports of a black swarm on the west side of town, so we're all going to go check that out. But… I'll think about this."

"Alright," Douglas says. "Good luck." Chase starts to go toward the hyperlift but then Douglas calls out, "Chase, wait!" He turns. "West side of town… that's where that French bakery is, right?"

"I think so."

"Could you…?"

"Yeah, fine," Chase sighs, rolling his eyes. "I'll grab you a macaroon."

"Best sonphew ever!" Chase cocks his head to the side. "It's son and nephew combined. I just came up with it."

" _Goodbye_."

Instead of running, Bree lets Skylar carry her through the air to the site of the reported black swarm. It's nice, being this close to her, feeling Skylar's hair fall into her face and tickle her nose. They land outside a cell phone store, with Oliver coming in behind them carrying Chase. Kaz brings up the rear.

"Excuse me," Skylar says to a mailman watching them with his mouth hanging open. "You didn't happen to see a big black cloud flying around here, did you?" Wordlessly, the mailman points down the street, toward a bowling alley.

"She went bowling?" Oliver says, raising an eyebrow.

Kaz shrugs. "I guess she was able to _spare_ the time."

"I knew we should've left him at home," Bree groans.

The Elite Force marches down the street.

The bowling alley is a chaotic mess. Bowlers huddle in the corners as a swirling black swarm— Roman and Riker's sister— whirls and dashes across the length of the building. Occasionally she touches down to create a cyclone around the pins and bowling balls.

Bree leads the team onto the floor of the bowling alley and then she hurls a proton ring at the swarm… which neatly dodges it. She throws another ring and the swarm ducks out of the way again, almost like the shapeshifter knows what she's going to do before she does it.

Skylar and Kaz try too, but the shapeshifter easily evades their energy blasts and fireballs. They keep trying and can't get a single hit in. Finally, the swarm touches down and shapeshifts into a young woman with dark hair and narrow eyes. She's smirking at them.

"You're not supposed to be over here without bowling shoes on, you know," the shapeshifter says.

Bree puts her hands on her hips. "So which one are you?"

The girl says, _Rhiannon_. But she doesn't say it out loud. Somehow, they hear it in their heads. Kaz turns to his teammates. "Did you all hear that too?"

"She's a telepath," Chase says.

"Oh yeah?" Kaz shouts across the floor to Rhiannon. "Well, we've got a telepath too!"

"No, we don't," Chase says.

"What about your little…?"

"That's telekinesis."

"Which one does Professor X do?"

"GUYS," Skylar says, exasperated. "Can we please focus on Rilaya?"

"Rhiannon."

"I don't care."

Rhiannon levels her gaze at Skylar, like she's pondering something, and then suddenly she's in Skylar's head. _Your people… they're fighting, dying, and you're letting them down. To be here, playing superhero._

"Stop it," Skylar says sharply. Bree's eyes swivel to her, concerned.

 _Do you even deserve your powers if you aren't using them to help the people back home? Your old friends must despise you… if they're even still alive._

"Get out of my head!" Skylar snaps.

"What is she doing?" Bree says, and then she turns to Rhiannon. "What are you doing?"

Rhiannon smirks again. "Old Jedi mind trick."

"Yeah right!" Kaz says. "You're a Sith for sure. But not one of the cool Siths, like Asajj Ventress or General Grievous, you're more like—"

Chase puts his hand over Kaz's mouth. "We need to stop her before she wrecks this bowling alley, alright? But she can read our minds, so just… everybody keep your minds blank, okay?"

"Where's Adam when you need him?" Bree says before priming another proton ring. She runs at Rhiannon and throws it, and even though her aim is perfect Rhiannon steps out of the way just in time. Frustrated, Bree zooms to the telepath to meet her head on, and they fight. Nothing Bree does connects, though. She can't kick or punch the other girl, because Rhiannon just keeps dodging her every attack.

Chase goes to help her. Using his molecularkinesis, he lifts three bowling balls and sends them spiraling in a circle right at Rhiannon. Not only do the bowling balls miss, but they come way too close to hitting Bree.

Oliver and Skylar join the fray, kicking and punching and hurling shards of ice (Oliver) and plasma balls (Skylar). Nothing connects. Even with everyone trying to keep their minds blank, Rhiannon keeps picking up their intents and countering them at every move.

Kaz pelts fireballs at Rhiannon and she swerves around them in a couple of moves that would make Neo from "The Matrix" jealous. The blasts of fire soar off target and hit the wall, singeing brown and black spots into the tacky bowling alley wallpaper. That's when Rhiannon directs her gaze at Oliver.

His face pales. He stumbles back, his hands shaking at his sides. "What's happening?" Bree calls out as she struggles to get Rhiannon in a headlock.

Kaz stares at his best friend, recognizing the signs. "He's having a panic attack," he says, rushing to Oliver's side, grabbing his hand. "Ollie, hey, I'm here. I'm right here."

Skylar, Chase and Bree gang up on Rhiannon while Kaz tries to help Oliver. "Sh-she's in my head," Oliver manages, hunched in on himself. "It's t-t-too much, there's too much…"

Kaz tries to block out the fighting and just focus on making Oliver okay. "Too many thoughts, right?" he says, remembering his conversation with Chase in the elevator. "Like your brain is trying to drag you in fifteen different directions, right?" Oliver nods, clenching his jaw too tightly. Then Kaz looks from Oliver to Rhiannon, who's currently throwing Chase sliding across the floor. "Maybe… maybe that's a good thing," Kaz mumbles, more to himself than to Oliver.

"Skylar, see if you can pin her down!" Chase yells, using a forcefield to push some civilians back into the arcade area. "Don't think, just do."

"Nah, that's not it!" Kaz announces, one hand firm on Oliver's shoulder to keep him upright. "Everybody think _as much as you can_. Take every train of thought you can and just run with it!" He makes eye contact with Bree. "Today's the day our ADHD finally pays off!"

Skylar aims a spinning hook kick at Rhiannon's chin and even though the telepath dodges it she knows what to do now: think. Think as hard as she can, about everything. _Logan High. Eskimos. Sundresses. Bree. Bree's hair. Bree's lips_. She lunges for Rhiannon, this time actually striking her as her and her team's brain waves finally overwhelm the shapeshifter.

Bree thinks about doing homework back in Mission Creek as she blurs around Rhiannon, knocking her back against a chair. Kaz thinks about the plot of the last show he binge-watched on Netflix as he launches a fireball at Rhiannon. With everyone thinking every thought they can, Rhiannon can't zero in on the attacks. She can't anticipate any of their movements. Oliver thinks about his grandmother's soup recipe as he complements the fireballs with a wall of ice surrounding Rhiannon. Finally, Chase thinks about the shortage of gluten-free restaurants in Centium City as he suspends a forcefield around Rhiannon, trapping her against the chair Bree knocked her back on.

"Call the league of heroes," Chase says to the team, glaring back at Rhiannon through the haze of his forcefield. "And tell them to bring power inhibitors."

* * *

As the superheroes take Rhiannon away in power-inhibiting handcuffs, she smirks at Chase. "You know that thing you've been thinking about all day?" she says cruelly. Her eyes flicker over to Kaz. "You're right. You will never get what you want." The superhero behind her tugs her arm and starts leading her away, but not before she can get one last sinister wink in at Chase as she's hauled off.

When they get back home, Chase storms into Mission Command and slaps the flash drive down on the cyberdesk in front of Douglas. "Do it," he says. "Upload the program. I'm ready. I want to be done with all of… _this_. I don't want to deal with it anymore."

Douglas picks up the flash drive slowly, examines Chase even more slowly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Chase says through gritted teeth. "Infatuation, attraction… it just gets in the way, every time. I'm done letting it make me weak."

Douglas clicks his tongue. "Alright, then. Sit down. I'll link to your chip." He slaps a transmitter on Chase's neck and plugs the flash drive into his laptop. Chase sits in the stool beside the cyberdesk but he can't stop fidgeting, tensing. "Okay, it's installing." He turns the laptop so Chase can see the progress bar— 1 percent, then 2.

He'll be free soon. Free from daydreaming every time Kaz so much as smiles at him, free from falling for another trap by another shapeshifter who knows all the right things to say, free from standing awake at night thinking about how nice it would be to crawl into the bed on the other side of the room, free from worrying about what their moment in the elevator meant, free from Kaz.

The download's at 14 percent. Soon Chase won't feel the slightest twinge of jealousy when Kaz talks about all the cool people he's met at college. He won't get caught up imagining how soft Kaz's hair might feel. Thirty percent. No more heartache. No more crushes. No more wondering if Kaz is standing so close for a reason, or if he's just that friendly.

Forty-seven percent. When this is all over, he'll be able to focus on his work, on inventing and environmentalism and saving the city. He'll get to think about science and math and Latin and technology, not goofy pyrokinetics who like to play practical jokes and bring him smoothies. Sixty-three percent. Kaz will just be his teammate and his friend, and nothing more. And he'll be perfectly fine with that.

Seventy-seven percent. Seventy-eight percent. Chase lets himself have one last daydream, one last _what-if_ where he thinks about Kaz holding his hand in the dark tunnels, Kaz leaning closer to him in the elevator, Kaz watching TV and eating buffalo wings with him, Kaz helping him build the mission suits, Kaz saving his life in Mighty Med, Kaz, Kaz, Kaz.

"Wait!" Chase yells, jumping off the stool. The download's at 99 percent. He yanks the flash drive out of the laptop and peels the transmitter off of his neck, his eyes wild. "Wait, wait, wait, I changed my mind. I don't want to lose it. I don't want to lose any of it."

Douglas just watches him. "You're not really supposed to pull those drives out without properly ejecting it first, you know," he says. "It's bad for the computer."

"I don't care!" Chase says, looking frantic. "I… I… Look, I've gotten hurt. I've been betrayed. I've gotten my heart broken and I've been, been, _used_ , and I've done stupid things. But… Douglas, I don't ever want to lose the way I feel. Because… I mean, how is that different than the Triton App, or the Commando App? The things that hurt me and the things that make me sad make me _me_. And I still want to be me, so… so, I don't want that app. I can't give up just because I got hurt. That's not me."

During his whole speech, Douglas just watches interestedly, not reacting, not arguing. "Okay," he says finally.

"Um…" Chase looks up at the ceiling, embarrassed. He looks back at Douglas. "I know you were trying to help. Sorry you put in all that work to design the software for nothing."

Douglas smiles. He holds up the flash drive. "This… is Adam's Incredible Edibles, volume 2. He sent it from the island last week."

Chase shakes his head like there's water in his ears. "What?"

"You deserve to be happy, Chase," Douglas says. "You weren't going to believe that unless you got a little push."

"You tricked me?"

"Yep," Douglas says. "Now you know. What you want, what you deserve. Go for it." Unless Chase is imagining it, he looks up toward the penthouse. Douglas may not know everything that happens between the members of the Elite Force, but he gets the gist.

Chase wrings his hands. "I'm going to get hurt."

"Yeah, probably." Douglas grins. "What are you waiting for?"

Out of Mission Command, up the hyperlift, into the living room, around the corner, up the stairs, down the hall, Chase walks with purpose. He nudges open the cracked bedroom door and strides into the room he shares with Kaz and Oliver.

Kaz is standing by the opposite wall, hanging up a poster for _Infinity War_ , but he looks around when the door opens. "Hey," Kaz says.

Chase barrels forward. His mind is so clear, everything is so _clear_. He feels like he's seeing Kaz and the room in HD. He feels like the best version of himself, and he's never been so sure. He tugs Kaz forward by his t-shirt, hands fisting in the material, and he does what he should have done in the elevator.

He kisses Kaz.

It's as natural as breathing, and Kaz doesn't even seem surprised. He's smiling against Chase's mouth as he kisses back. For once, Chase isn't worried about what might go wrong. He's kissing Kaz, and the world is a nice place.

Even when they break apart, Chase doesn't move away, just stays there in Kaz's orbit, grinning.

"Hey," Chase says.

* * *

Miles away, a young woman named Riley sits up suddenly in bed, a familiar presence pressing at the edges of her mind. _Hey sis_. It's Rhiannon. _They got me. The Elite Force got me. I was able to jailbreak the inhibitors in my cell to project a message to you but I only have so much time._

Riley scrubs at her eyes, heart racing as her body catches up with her brain. "Alright, I'm listening," she whispers into the dark, knowing her telepathic sister can read her. "What's the deal?"

 _Picked up some interesting information off of Chase Davenport_ , Rhiannon explains. _Turns out we aren't their only enemies— far from it. In fact, there's one guy who came close to shutting down the Davenports once before. He's been captured… I think maybe it's time you put him back into play._

"Yeah, alright," Riley says, combing her hair out of her face. "You got a name?"

 _Sebastian_ , Rhiannon informs her as their connection dims. _Find Sebastian_. Her inhibitors must have rebooted then, because she fizzles out, and Riley's left alone in the dark. Alone with her own thoughts— and a mission.


	7. Fair and Unfair

Bree glares across the coffee table at her opponent, careful not to betray any information. "Got any sevens?"

"Go Fish," says Kaz.

Bree chews her lip in annoyance as she swipes another card from the stack on the table. "You think we should learn to play a real card game?"

"You're only saying that because you're losing," Kaz points out. "Got any threes?" Bree rolls her eyes and slides him the three of hearts. The front door swings open and Skylar walks in, holding hands with a shorter girl with a purple stripe in her hair.

"Hey guys," Skylar says, actually sounding a little nervous. "This is Ramona." She leads the girl— Ramona— through the apartment to the kitchen and starts pouring two glasses of water.

Bree leans across the coffee table to Kaz. "What's going on there?"

Kaz shrugs. "That's Ramona," he says. "You know as much as I do."

Oliver and Chase march down the stairs decked out in baseball caps and enough water bottles to hydrate a small village. "Okay we're ready for the carnival," Oliver announces.

"Sweet!" Kaz says, dropping his hand of cards on the table. "Bree, you forfeit?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Bree mumbles, eyes glued to Skylar and Ramona in the kitchen. "Hey Skylar, aren't you gonna introduce us to Ramoray?"

"Ramona," Skylar corrects her seamlessly. Then she looks at Ramona and giggles. Bree hates it. "Ah, Ramona, this is Bree, Kaz, Oliver and Chase. Everyone, this is Ramona. I met her at the bookstore yesterday."

Kaz snorts. "What were you doing at a bookstore?"

"I like how the books smell," Skylar admits. "Anyway, I ran into Ramona and we hit it off. So we went out for ice cream today." She tugs Ramona closer by the waist and Bree has to fight the urge to hurl a proton ring at the two of them.

"It's so nice to finally meet all of you," Ramona gushes. Her voice is high-pitched like an adorable little cartoon mouse. Bree hates it. "Skylar's told me so much about you guys, I just wanted to pop up and say hi. I have to go catch my train now, though."

"Oh, I'll walk you out," Skylar says, beaming as she leads Ramona out by the hand.

As soon as the door clicks shut, Bree turns to the boys, the cards in her hand all but forgotten. "Alright, did anyone else think that was suspicious?" Chase, Kaz and Oliver exchange blank looks. "She 'just wanted to pop up'? I don't think any of us should be bringing strangers back to our home," Bree says. "I mean, this is a top-secret superhero organization!"

"I wouldn't say 'top secret'..."

"Yeah, that's a little much," Oliver agrees with Chase. "I mean, we don't even wear masks."

"Yeah," Kaz chimes in, "and it's not like Skylar brought her down to Mission Command."

Bree throws up her hands, outnumbered. "Whatever. Shows what you guys know." She stomps upstairs to her room.

Oliver looks from Kaz to Chase. "Okay. Well. You guys ready for a real rollercoaster and not this… emotional one?" He gestures in Bree's general direction.

"Whoo!" Kaz says, tossing his cards down. "Carnival time. Lemme get my lucky ring toss jacket."

The boys meander toward the raucous Centium City Carnival, Chase making them wait to cross the street until the pedestrian light signals them. "Your boyfriend's really putting a damper on our jaywalking habit," Oliver complains.

Kaz just smiles. It's been less than a week. Hearing Chase described as his boyfriend still makes him feel all fuzzy. They continue toward the carnival, Chase and Kaz loosely holding hands while Oliver leads them.

When they get to the carnival gates, Chase detaches from Kaz to buy ride tickets. Oliver turns to his best friend. "Listen, Kaz, I'm not like… too much of a third wheel here, am I?" he says, looking self-conscious. "'Cause I can go…"

"No, no," Kaz insists, patting him on the shoulder. "Of course you're not a third wheel. You're my best friend. And you're..." He hesitates weirdly.

"And I'm Chase's friend too," Oliver finishes, giving him a look.

Kaz shrugs. "Sure."

"Sure?" But Oliver doesn't continue because Chase returns then, gripping a hefty stack of tickets.

"Got the tickets!" Chase announces. "Let the fun begin! But just remember that almost all of these rides are structurally unsound death traps. And also all the food here is basically a one-way train to Clogged Artery City."

"Let the fun begin!" Kaz laughs, pecking Chase on the cheek before grabbing the tickets from him. He marches off in the direction of a balloon dart game.

Oliver leans over to Chase as they move to follow Kaz. "Hey, Chase, you and I are friends, right?" Oliver says.

"Sure," Chase answers, not really paying attention. He's watching Kaz negotiate with the balloon dart guy.

"'Sure'?" Oliver huffs, but Chase is already walking away.

* * *

Back in the penthouse, Bree tries everything to get her mind off of Skylar and Ramona. She flips through two magazines without really reading either of them. She Windexes her capsule, but that task just makes her mind wander to Skylar and Ramona getting ice cream, Skylar and Ramona holding hands, Skylar and Ramona kissing…

Bree scowls and tosses the Windex bottle across the room. She stomps back downstairs and, just her luck, Skylar's in the kitchen chopping up zucchini.

"Oh, hi Bree!" she says brightly.

It annoys Bree. Isn't it obvious to Skylar that she's in a cruddy mood? She's amazed there isn't a literal dark storm cloud hovering above her head. "What are you doing?" she says. It comes out more accusatory than she meant it.

"Ramona gave me this recipe for zoodles," Skylar explains. "They're like noodles but made out of zucchini."

Bree purses her lips. "What's wrong with regular noodles?"

"Nothing," Skylar shrugs, continuing to cut the zucchini stalks in long strips. "These are just lower carb."

Bree hops up on one of the stools at the counter, folding her arms and wishing she could hide herself in her own sweater. "Well maybe you should've thought about boiling the noodles we have instead of going out and getting zucchini to make weird zucchini noodles," she mumbles. "I mean, you didn't even consider how the regular noodles feel. They're in the pantry, they're biding their time, and then you waltz in parading around your zucchini. It's just not fair."

"Did you say something, Bree?"

"No, nothing."

* * *

Oliver and Chase are trying to drag Kaz away from a man at a booth declaring he can guess anyone's weight, age or birth month. "Alright, I'm in," Kaz says, enamored, handing the man three dollars. "What's my birth month?"

The man squints at him, fiddling with his handlebar mustache. "June."

Kaz's eyes widen. "That's… _so_ close. It's April. But that was _so_ close, oh my God."

Oliver rolls his eyes. "Come on, sucker," he says.

Kaz is still impressed even as they get farther from the man with the mustache. "He guessed my birth month! I mean, I mean, he almost guessed my birth month. What are the chances?"

"One in 12," Oliver says.

The three of them mill around for a bit before they split up so Oliver can go to the petting zoo and Kaz and Chase can spend some time alone. Immediately, Kaz tugs Chase toward the looming Ferris wheel. "Come on, it'll be so romantic," he says. "Maybe we'll get stuck at the top!"

"That doesn't sound romantic, that sounds terrifying," Chase says sourly.

"I'll hold your hand if you get scared."

"Deal."

"Yay!" Kaz says, practically dancing toward the ride. He and Chase hand the Ferris wheel attendant their tickets and start to board one of the passenger cars. "Oh, man," Kaz gushes, "I gotta tell you, there is nothing I like more than spending time with— FUNNEL CAKES." Distracted, he straightens up from the car, eyes fixed on a food cart across the way. "Be right back."

"Kaz!" Chase scowls, struggling to push up on the restraining bar. It's no use; he's stuck. "Get back here!" To his great annoyance, the car starts lifting him up and away.

"Go around once without me," Kaz calls back, already heading for the funnel cakes. "I'll meet you at the bottom."

Excited about the prospect of delicious powdered sugar, Kaz skips down the stairs from the Ferris wheel platform. "Gonna get some funnel cake," he sings to himself cheerily. "Gonna get some powdered sugar. Gonna get some yummy, yummy funnel cake. Hi, Riker. Gonna get some funnel cake, gonna…" He skids to a stop and actually backs up, really hoping he's hallucinating. "Riker?"

It's definitely him, standing there beside a large generator that powers the Ferris wheel and looking alarmed to see Kaz there. He recovers quickly though and straightens out his surprised expression into a sneer. "You should hurry back with that funnel cake," he says. "You wouldn't want to miss the show."

Kaz isn't used to seeing Riker without Roman. He looks smaller, somehow, without his older brother backing him up. Still very much a threat, though. Kaz falls into an attack stance. "What are you doing here?" he demands.

"Making a point," Riker declares. "I can execute an evil plan just fine. I can prove to my family that they don't need to be bringing in outside threats."

"Outside threats?" Kaz repeats. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Riker smirks. "You'll find out soon enough."

"I want to find out now!" Kaz whines. Riker just turns around and checks something on the Ferris wheel generator. It looks like he's got some kind of device attached to it. The wires of the device go into the generator… and up to the Ferris wheel control panel. "So what's your big plan?"

Riker doesn't answer his question. "Do you know about the invention of the Ferris wheel?" he says. "The first one was erected at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893." Kaz is torn between trying to look threatening and trying not to laugh at the word "erected." "While people at the fair marveled at the feat of architecture and design, they had no idea that in that same city, the serial killer H.H. Holmes was brutally killing people, trapping them in his elaborate murder castle and dissolving their bodies in acid, sometimes while they were still alive."

"Gross," Kaz says. And then, "Listen, can we pause?"

"Can we… what?"

"Pause, we need to pause," Kaz says. "See, 'cause I need to go get Oliver. Otherwise you're just gonna have to go through this whole scary monologue again. We good?"

"Um…"

"Five minutes."

"Yeah, okay," Riker says, again looking kind of lost without Roman there. "I'll be here."

Oliver's enjoying petting a sheep that isn't Kaz when Kaz runs up to him, out of breath and holding a funnel cake. "Riker!" he says. He's got powdered sugar lining his face like a goatee. "Riker's here and he did something to the Ferris wheel and Chase is on the Ferris wheel we have to stop him," he says in a rush.

Oliver steps away from the sheep, then glares at the funnel cake in Kaz's hand. "So you saw Riker and knew that you had to come get me. But then you… stopped for a funnel cake first?"

Kaz looks down at the plate in his hand and then hides it behind his back. "No."

"Mm-hmm. How about that powdered sugar on your face?"

"That's… cocaine."

"Right," Oliver says, rolling his eyes. "Come on. Let's go save your boyfriend."

* * *

Bree's been pretty good about avoiding Skylar for the majority of the day. And Skylar's pretty sick of it. It's hard to track down a girl with superspeed, but Skylar finally manages to find her moping in one of the underground tunnels connected to Mission Command.

"Bree?" she says, approaching her cautiously like she might with a wounded animal or an angry squirrel. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Bree says too brightly. "What do you want to talk about? The stock market? I heard GE is about to go up."

"I want to talk to you about Ramona."

Bree acts like she hasn't heard her. "So we should probably invest now before shares get really pricey."

"Bree."

"I don't know what you want me to say," Bree says, pacing around the tunnel like she's looking for an escape route. Skylar's always amazed at how Bree can be so confident with bad guys but so unsure of herself when it comes to personal matters. "I don't like her. That's all I can say. I don't like her and I don't trust her."

Skylar scowls. "Why not?"

"Just don't," Bree says stubbornly. "Don't know why. Just don't like her and don't like that you're dating her."

"Okay, I expected weird behavior from Oliver, but not from you," Skylar says, rounding on her roomie and best friend. "Bree, I just… I don't get how me being an alien is fine but suddenly it's too weird for you— me being gay."

Bree feels like she's having an aneurysm. "That is so _not_ the problem," she corrects her. "It's just… I don't think you should be dating Ramona."

"So it's okay if I'm a lesbian in theory but not in practice," Skylar shoots back. "Got it."

"No!" Bree shouts. "Maybe I'm a little concerned about that fact that her name starts with an 'R' and she popped up out of nowhere. Remind you of anyone? I'll give you a hint— her name starts with a 'Ree' and ends with 'seduced my brother and tried to kill my dad.' We don't know we can trust her."

Skylar rolls her eyes. "Just admit it, Bree. The real reason you've got an issue with Ramona is—"

"Why her and not me?" Bree says quietly, glaring at Skylar. She never knew how to say it before, but now it just comes bubbling out. Because that's it, that's the whole thing. "I mean… if you wanted to date a girl, all you had to do was walk across the room. And, and I know I have no right to say this, except that you did kind of ask. You asked me why I have a problem with Ramona. And that's it— because she's not me."

* * *

Oliver and Kaz run up to face Riker together. By now, it's starting to become clear that he's tampered with the Ferris wheel. The circle is spinning faster and faster, and the ride attendant doesn't seem to be able to shut it off. A small crowd of fairgoers have gathered around the platform, looking worried.

"Alright, Riker," Oliver says, holding out his hand like a loaded water pistol— which it kind of is. "What'd you do to the Ferris wheel?"

Riker smiles. "I made it a little more high risk," he says. "See, right now it's going about 20 miles per hour, and it's only going to get faster. And if it slows down, the whole thing blows."

Kaz and Oliver exchange a look and then look back at Riker. "So, 'Speed'?"

"Hm?"

"Your evil plan, it's the plot of the movie 'Speed,'" Oliver says. "With Keanu Reeves?"

"I've never heard of that movie," Riker says. "But this plan is _diabolical_. And it's completely original."

"It's 'Speed' with a Ferris wheel instead of a bus," Kaz says. He turns to Oliver. "Hey, does this make me Keanu?"

"Nah, you're Sandy Bullock," Oliver says. "Chase is Keanu."

"IT'S NOT 'SPEED,'" Riker says, losing his chill. " _How_ the hell is it that you've managed to beat so many of my brothers and sisters?"

"Fortune cookies favor the bold," Kaz says.

" _Fortune_ favors the bold," Oliver corrects him. "Let's go, Kaz. We can fly up and get everyone off the Ferris wheel before something bad happens."

"Not so fast!" Riker says. He's starting to sound like he learned how to be a villain by watching old movies from the 1940s. Kaz half expects him to try tying him and Oliver to a train track next. "The mechanism I attached to the Ferris wheel has been precisely calibrated to the weight of each car. If the current weight of the passengers changes at all, it will trigger the explosion."

Kaz looks at Oliver. "Panic now?"

"Oh, yeah."

Kaz and Oliver back away from Riker, minds spinning as fast as the Ferris wheel. "What are we gonna do?" Kaz says, pacing back and forth. He's started gesturing wildly. "Oliver, what are we gonna do? Chase is on there!"

"Really? He is? I keep forgetting that, because you're only mentioned it twenty times!" Oliver says, frustrated with Kaz and Riker and the whole situation. All he wanted to do was pet some fuzzy animals and eat some kettle corn. "Alright, I don't think we can tamper with the device itself, we might end up triggering it. We have to get everyone safely off the Ferris wheel, without changing the weight."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Kaz and Oliver look around wildly for a moment, like the solution might just drop out of the sky.

It sort of does. Kaz spots them first— the sandbags being used to weigh down the canopy housing the mechanical bull, over to the left of the Ferris wheel. "Sandbags!" he says, snapping his fingers. "We're gonna Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark this bish!"

"Perfect!" Oliver says. "But wait, how are we gonna be able to get the weights of each passenger car exactly right?"

They stand in silence for a moment, thinking. And then they both look at each other.

"Step right up!" hollers the man with the handlebar mustache. "I know what you weigh! I know when you were born! If I'm not exactly accurately perfectly somewhere in the ballpark, you win a prize!"

"Hey," Oliver says, grabbing the man by the elbow. "Wanna be a superhero for a day?"

"More of a consultant, really," Kaz clarifies. "Aaaand you don't really get a choice. Come with us." The man starts to protest, but Oliver doesn't have any trouble scooping him up and carrying him back to the Ferris wheel. Super strength really does have its perks.

Riker's somewhere in the crowd, watching the catastrophe he orchestrated get more and more out of control. Right now, he's the furthest thing from Kaz's mind. He just wants to get his boyfriend back.

"Okay," Oliver says, one hand on the mustachioed man's shoulder. He points to one of the cars with his other hand. "How much do those two weigh?"

The man looks at the passengers obediently, but he seems hesitant to give an answer. "Look, kid, there's not really a science to this," he says, dropping his carnival barker voice. "I don't know that I'm really qualified to—"

"How much. Do those two. Weigh?" Oliver says through gritted teeth.

The man sighs. "The guy's 220. The girl's 190."

"Perfect," Oliver says. He and Kaz pick up a sandbag and weigh it on the scale. When they've got it right, Oliver flies the sandbags up to the car with Kaz there to scoop up the passengers. "Everybody relax!" Oliver announces to the confused, scared passengers who just wanted a nice ride on the Ferris wheel. "The Elite Force is here!"

"Two-fifths of us anyway," Kaz clarifies. He grabs the man in the car by the forearms. "Okay, when I say three, I'm gonna haul you out of here," he says. He looks back at Oliver to make sure they're good, and then he turns back to the man. "One, two, three!" Kaz pulls the man out of the car. At the same instant, Oliver drops two sandbags (measured at precisely 220 pounds) in his vacated seat.

For a second, Oliver and Kaz hold their breaths, waiting for everything to go to hell.

It doesn't. Their plan works. Kaz lets out a little whoop of celebration before he flies the man safely to the ground and Oliver goes to measure out 190 pounds worth of sand.

Before starting on their second car, Kaz zips around the Ferris wheel looking for Chase, feeling a little like Tinkerbell. He finally spots the car that Chase is in and zooms up beside him. "Chase, it's gonna be okay," he promises. Chase's knuckles are white where he's been clinging to the railing. "I promise you're not going to blow up."

"Why would I blow up?" Chase says. "What's happening down there anyway? What's wrong with the Ferris wheel?"

Kaz curses. Probably should've tried to keep the whole "bomb" thing a secret from Chase. Now he's going to panic. "It's nothing, don't worry," he says quickly. "Uh, have you seen the movie 'Speed'?"

"KAZIMIERAS."

"No, but seriously, don't worry," Kaz says. "Oliver and I have a plan. Everyone's going to be okay."

"Promise me something," Chase says.

"Yes, of course I'll save you. I'm not letting you die at a carnival, Chase."

"That's not what I was going to ask," Chase says. He looks down at the ground and then quickly back up, seeming nauseated. The Ferris wheel spins on and on. "Kaz… save me last, okay? Get all of these civilians to safety before you come for me, okay?"

"Chase…"

"Promise me."

Kaz sighs. "Fine."

"Okay," Chase says. He smiles then, even though it looks like it takes a tremendous effort, and he blows Kaz a kiss. "Good luck. I know you can do it. You're a hero."

Oliver flies up behind Kaz, hauling the next load of bagged sand. "What about me? I'm a hero too."

Chase shrugs. "Sure."

"'Sure,'" Oliver repeats, scowling. "Come on, Kaz, let's save some lives or something."

* * *

Back in the tunnels beneath the Davenport Tower, Skylar's looking at Bree like she's grown an extra head. "Bree…" she says, astonished. "I just… I had no idea you liked—"

"Girls?"

"Me," Skylar says.

Bree's cheeks flush pink. "How can I not?" she mumbles. "You show up from outer space, you're gorgeous and brave and you always know what to say to make me smile. I just… I mean, how could anyone not fall for you? I sympathize with Oliver now. God, how pathetic is that?"

Skylar tilts her head to the side. "You're not pathetic, Bree."

"Really?" Bree says. Now she's speaking in a voice that Skylar only hears when Bree is really, really mad at Chase or Douglas or Mr. Davenport. She doesn't think she's the target right now, though. It sounds more like Bree is angry with herself. "I'm not pathetic? So you gonna tell me you like me back?"

Skylar says nothing, and Bree just nods, clicks her tongue. "Yeah. Thought so."

"Bree—"

"Later," Bree says, speeding away into the dark tunnels.

* * *

It doesn't take them too long to unload a majority of the passenger cars without major incident. They've lost track of Riker, but Oliver's pretty sure he's down there somewhere, watching. He's too invested to run away now.

All the civilians are safe now, and only Chase is left. He looks remarkably calm from where Kaz and Oliver are standing; but then again, they're pretty far away. Oliver can remember the panic in Chase's voice, even as he made them promise to save him last.

"Okay," Kaz says, eyes glued to his boyfriend as he rotates around on a spinning wheel of death. "We're doing what he wanted. We saved him for last. Oliver, hand me the next sandbag."

With a sinking feeling in his gut, Oliver turns to look at their mountain of sandbags that had dwindled to a pile that had dwindled down to nothing. "Kaz," he says quietly, "Kaz, there's no more."

Kaz pivots his gaze only to see that Oliver's right. They used up all the sandbags already to replace the passengers, and now there aren't any left to rescue Chase. "How much does he weigh?" Kaz asks, looking at the carnival guesser desperately. "How much?"

The man looks up at Chase, cocking his head to the side. "152," he says finally.

Oliver's eyes widen. "152? 152 exactly?"

"Hey, I told you that what I do isn't always preci—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Oliver says, eyes fixed on Chase. All day long he's been insecure about whether or not they're even friends, or just teammates. He's been wondering if he's not really Chase's friend, just Chase's boyfriend's friend.

Well. Now's his chance to prove it.

Because Chase isn't the only one who weighs exactly 152 pounds.

Sparing one last look at Kaz, Oliver blasts off from the ground and flies to meet Chase as he continues around the Ferris wheel. "Take my hand!" he yells, reaching out to Chase. He knows Kaz isn't far behind him. "Come on, Chase, Kaz will catch you."

"What are you doing?" Chase says, looking around. "You don't have any sandbags."

"I know," Oliver says. "Come on. It's going to be okay, Chase. Take my hand."

Chase just stares at him. "Oliver, what are you doing?"

"Being a hero!" Oliver says lamely. "Being… being your friend."

"Oliver, you're already my friend!" Chase says, momentarily ignoring the fact that they might blow up at any minute. "You don't need to sacrifice yourself to prove that. We're friends. In fact, you're… you're probably my best friend."

Oliver almost falls right out of the air. "I'm your best friend?"

"I mean, sort of!" Chase says. "It can't be Kaz, he's my boyfriend. It can't be Adam or Leo, they're my brothers."

"Dude," Oliver says, emotional. "You're… well, you're my second best friend," he says, thinking of Kaz.

Chase smiles. "Sounds good to me."

Just then, Titanio rockets toward them on his jetpack. "This is all very touching, boys, but what's say we save the day now, huh?"

"Titanio?" Oliver says, almost dropping out of the sky for the second time. "What are you doing here?"

"Some girls on the ground know Solar Flare, they called her and told her there was an emergency that could use some superheroes," Titanio explains. "So the League of Heroes showed up."

Chase and Oliver share a look. "You didn't think to call the League?" he says, annoyed.

"Who needs a League when you've got a Force?" Oliver says, flushing with embarrassment. Titanio scoops up Chase before he can protest and flies him down to the ground, with Oliver close behind.

Kaz runs over to meet them. He hugs both Oliver and Chase and then the three of them turn to watch as Gamma Girl throws a bubble of radiation around the Ferris wheel and absorbs all the energy of the explosion.

It's quite the spectacle, this green contained catastrophe happening in midair. When it's over, Gamma Girl lowers the wreckage of the Ferris wheel safely to the ground and dusts off her hands.

The boys don't even need to point the heroes in Riker's direction. Solar Flare and Blue Tornado already have him in power-inhibiting cuffs and they're flanking him on either side.

"Wow," Kaz mumbles, watching as the crowd of would-be victims and onlookers starts to dissipate. "Maybe we should leave more of the superhero stuff to the professionals."

"You were doing fine before we showed up," Gamma Girl says encouragingly. "You've got this. Doesn't mean you can't benefit from a little help."

Kaz, Chase and Oliver smile at her and then walk toward Blue Tornado and Solar Flare to watch them haul away Riker. (And gloat.)

"Well, well, well," Kaz says, flashing Riker a cheesy grin. "Guess that's what happens when you base your evil plots on blockbuster movies."

"Have your fun now," Riker says darkly, his hands bound behind his back. "You have no idea what my family's got in store for you."

"Oh no!" Oliver says, mocking him. "I'm not too worried. Chase, are you worried?"

"I'm not worried at all," Chase says back, going with the bit.

"Because we're friends with the League of Heroes," Kaz brags. Blue Tornado and Solar Flare both look skeptical about "friends." "Not friends? Acquaintances? Colleagues? Work buddies?" Solar Flare shrugs, little sparklers dancing off her fingertips. "Aw, whatever."

"Come on, guys," Chase says, looping an arm around his boyfriend and his best friend. "I think I've had enough of the carnival for one day. Let's go home."

As they walk away, Kaz hands Chase a stuffed octopus. "While that carnival guessing guy was helping us, I swiped this from his booth," he says, kissing Chase on the cheek. "For you."

Chase smiles, looking down at the little pink octopus. "I love it. Thanks, Kaz."

* * *

When the boys get back home, they expect Skylar and Bree to be hanging out in the penthouse. But they aren't easy to find. Chase finally tracks down Skylar hanging out up on the roof, refusing to talk about anything. Oliver locates Bree lurking around the tunnels and just as tight-lipped.

That night, Kaz jerks awake when he realize someone is climbing into bed with him. At first he thinks it must be Chase, but then he gets a whiff of Skylar's shampoo. "Can I sleep in here tonight?" she whispers, already burrowing under his Tecton plush blanket. "It's just… it's too awkward right now, trying to sleep with Bree in the same room."

Kaz stares at her silhouette in the dark. "If I let you share my bed, will you tell me what went down between you and Bree?"

She shrugs with one shoulder. "Eventually. Not yet."

Kaz sighs and rolls over on his side. "Yeah, fine. Sweet dreams."

"Thanks," Skylar says, stretching out on her back and staring up at the ceiling of the boys' room. Kaz falls back asleep quickly. Skylar lies awake for hours before she finally drifts off.


	8. Old Enemies & New Friends

Chase could stay sprawled on the couch making out with Kaz forever. So he isn't really sure why he pulls himself away from Kaz's soft hands and softer lips to say, "You and I should go on a real first date."

Kaz smiles up at him. "I thought the carnival was our 'real' first date."

Chase scowls. "First of all, Oliver was there. Second of all, I almost died. We should go on a real first date, just the two of us, no Oliver, no near-death experiences."

Kaz leans up and catches Chase's mouth with his, kissing him softly in the morning light. "Sounds gay. I'm in."

Just then, Bree stomps past, dragging with her the metaphorical black cloud that's been hovering over her for the past week or so. "Morning, Bree," Kaz greets her brightly. And because he refuses to give up, he asks her, "Something wrong?"

"Nope," Bree says, grabbing a pack of instant oatmeal from the cabinet. "I'm fine." She tries to tear open the oatmeal packet but it gives her some trouble. Frustrated, she hurls it across the kitchen. "Totally, completely fine. And even if I _weren't_ fine, I don't want to talk about it to anybody."

Chase frowns. He hates seeing Bree like this. Usually she's always buzzing around from one thing to the next, and even when she's upset, she's always pretty vocal about it. He doesn't know what could be bothering Bree so much that she won't even talk about it. He and Kaz exchange a look but don't press the issue.

"My personal life is my personal life," Bree continues, giving up on the instant oatmeal and grabbing an entire container of cottage cheese out of the refrigerator and digging into it. "I have nothing to say to anyone, ever."

Then the door opens and Tasha Davenport shows up in the penthouse. "Surprise."

"MOM oh my God I have so much to tell you," Bree babbles, dropping her cottage cheese on the counter and zooming across the room to hug Tasha, who looks surprised at the attention but not unhappy.

Chase jumps away from Kaz like he's been shocked. It's not like he's not out to Tasha, but there's a difference between knowing her stepson likes guys and seeing him practically lying on top of one. "Hey, Tasha," he says, cheeks turning pink.

"Hi, Chase," she says, and then gives Kaz a knowing look. " _Hi_ , Kaz."

"Hey, Mrs. D," Kaz grins, completely unabashed. "What brings you to Centium City?" He jumps off the couch and bounds into the kitchen for an apple.

"What, I can't visit my favorite superhero team just because I felt like it?" Tasha asks, wrapping an arm around Bree's shoulders. Both Bree and Chase give her skeptical looks. "Okay, Donald's got some big new project he's unveiling at Davenport Industries and he's been running around like a stressed-out nightmare monster. Yesterday I put the milk on a different shelf in the refrigerator and I thought he was going to bite my head off. I needed a little vacation."

"And you didn't think to go to the tropical island your husband owns?" Bree says.

Tasha gives her a withering look. "No, because guess who's _helping_ Donald with this big project?"

Bree and Chase make eye contact. "Leo."

"Apparently he's gotten so bad that Adam's taken to hiding in his capsule to get away from him," Tasha sighs, walking with Bree to join her stepson on the couch. "I just needed a break from all that. Please tell me everything's going alright here."

"Yep," Bree lies.

"Everything's fine," Chase says.

"Epffeft fuhfa fhapefhiffehs," Kaz says around a big bite of apple.

Tasha stares. "Wh… what?"

"He said, 'except for the shapeshifters,'" Chase says. "We've been fighting shapeshifters. It's a whole thing. Should be fine for a weekend, though."

"Oh," Tasha says, still looking tense for a moment. Then she shrugs and relaxes into the couch. "Well, I'm sure you kids can handle anything. You've been doing a good job so far. Donald and I are really proud of you." Bree and Chase both duck their hands, kind of abashed, kind of pleased. Tasha hastily glances over at Kaz in the kitchen. "Oh, and um, we're proud of you, too, Kaz."

"Aw, thanks, Mrs. D," he says.

"So what were you all up to today, anyway?" Tasha says, looking around the room. Chase and Kaz exchange a couple panicked glances that basically constitute an argument using only their eyebrows.

Finally Chase says, "I'm taking Kaz on a date."

Tasha looks delighted. "Fun! Where are you going?"

Kaz waggles his eyebrows in Chase's direction. "That's a good question."

Chase grouches under the added pressure of his boyfriend, his sister and his stepmother. "Well… just based on a preliminary scan of the business database I have downloaded, it looks like the most highly rated and most affordable places for lunch are—"

"Gah, I'm already bored," Kaz says, but he's smiling at Chase in kind of a dopey, smitten way. "Here's an idea, Genius. How about _I_ pick the restaurant?"

Chase smiles, aware that Tasha and Bree are making faces at the back of his head, not really caring. "Sounds great."

* * *

Kaz and Chase head out for their date about half an hour after that, leaving Tasha and Bree alone. "Thought they'd never leave," Bree huffs dramatically, sprawling across the expanse of the couch after exiling Tasha to the easy chair across from her. It almost looks like she could be in a therapist's office. "I have so much to tell you."

"You do?" she says back. "My phone call history says otherwise."

Bree frowns. "There's stuff I can't talk about on the phone."

Tasha takes that seriously, her smirk dropping. "Why? Are you being bugged? Is somebody listening to us right now?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Bree assures her, wriggling around on the couch in a vain attempt to find a comfortable position. "Just… I'm embarrassed."

"Oh, honey," Tasha sighs, looking at her fondly. "I've been there, trust me. You can tell me anything. I promise I won't laugh or judge."

Bree opens her mouth, shuts it, frowns. She tries again to find a more comfortable position.

Tasha asks, "Is it about a boy?"

"Not… a _boy_ ," Bree says, and just saying the words feels like pulling teeth. It's not like she didn't _just_ watch Tasha cheerfully send off Chase on his very gay date with his very gay boyfriend. And it's not like she hasn't confided in Tasha about crushes on girls at school.

Somehow this feels different. Maybe because she happens to feel exceptionally pathetic about her unrequited crush on a certain alien superhero.

Tasha sees right through her. "Is it Skylar?"

"How do you _do_ that?" Bree scowls. Tasha had also picked up on her crush on Caitlin years ago.

"Mom senses," Tasha says with a grin. "So… you like Skylar? I don't know her that well, except from her comic books. She seems nice, though. I'll have to—"

"You don't have to bother getting to know her," Bree says sullenly. "She doesn't feel the same way. Like, at all. As of last week she was actually seeing someone else, but… I don't know if that's still a thing. All I know is she doesn't like me that way."

Tasha doesn't try to contradict her or make any false assurances. She just says, "Oh, sweetie," and holds out her arms for a hug. Bree sinks against her, tucking her face into Tasha's sweater and thinking about how she'll never outgrow her stepmother's hugs.

* * *

Chase and Kaz wind up heading toward a cute pizzeria across town. "They've got the greasiest pepperoni ever," Kaz declares, swinging Chase's hand in his. He's still new to having a boyfriend, to being able to walk around with him, and he's reveling in it. "Of course, you can get a Caesar salad if you want. I won't judge, I promise."

Chase smiles at him, eyes full of adoration. "You're the best."

"I know," Kaz smirks, but then he leans forward and kisses the corner of Chase's mouth. It's almost perfect.

And then they hear the person on the sidewalk in front of them cough. Chase sees him first and his face drains of color, and then Kaz whirls around to see who's there, expecting the worst— Roman, Reese, or just some homophobic dude.

It's a guy Kaz doesn't recognize. He's got thick eyebrows and a defined chin, and he's looking at Chase like a cat eyeing a koi pond. "You two look adorable together," the stranger says. "I'd hate to interrupt your little date, but… well, I came a long way."

Kaz waits for Chase to make a witty retort or at least explain who this asshole is, but Chase just gulps, eyes wide with horror. Kaz grimaces and turns back to the guy. "Look, dude, it's the weekend. Let's save this crap for business hours, mmkay?" Just to make the message clear, he lets his right hand flame up.

The stranger doesn't even react. He makes some kind of slashing-ripping motion with his hand and a burst of green light shoots out and hits the light post next to them, cutting it in half. The lamp falls, sparking, and nearly hits Chase.

Behind Kaz, Chase gasps. "How can you do that? They took away your bionic chip."

"Who the hell is this guy?" Kaz asks, looking wildly between Chase and the other guy.

The other guy laughs. "What, the new boyfriend doesn't know about the old boyfriend?" He looks at Kaz. "I'm Sebastian. Chasey's first boyfriend, first kiss, first… humiliating betrayal."

"Answer me," Chase says, and even though his hands are trembling, his voice is firm. He ignores Kaz's bewildered expression. "How do you have powers? How are you even here right now?"

In answer, a girl walks up from the shadows and stands at Sebastian's right side, leering at them. "I take credit for that," he says, winking. "Hi, boys. I'm Riley. Broke your boy here out of the bionic bighouse and gave him a little upgrade."

Chase eyes Riley and Sebastian warily and then, without even looking at Kaz, throws a forcefield around him and steps forward. "How?" he says, summoning his laser bo in what he hopes is a threatening gesture.

"I have superpowers now," Sebastian gloats. "You know, those things that your boyfriend, your sister and you ex-girlfriend all have that you don't?" He sends out another burst of green light. This time it makes a big crack in the sidewalk.

"I don't understand," Chase says, and Kaz can tell he's wincing internally. Chase hates not knowing stuff, and he hates admitting it even more.

"That's my gimmick," Riley explains. "I imbue non-powered people with superpowers. Comes in handy with stuff like this."

Chase scowls, about to say something, but Kaz waves his hands around. "Waitwaitwait. If you can give people superpowers, why didn't you just power your dad back up after he lost his abilities?"

Riley looks like she's actually going to kill him right there and then. Her gaze is terrifying. "It doesn't work like that, idiot. I can only give powers to people who never had them in the first place. Normos. I can't restore depowered superhumans."

"Enough exposition," Sebastian sighs. "I just wanted to see the look on his face. We can go now."

Riley takes his arm and hits a button on the complicated watch on her wrist. Chase shouts, but can't stop them as the glow from Riley's watch engulfs the two and whisks them away. "Aw man," Kaz complains, still trapped in the protective cocoon of Chase's forcefield. "How come they get superpowers _and_ cool tech? You can't have both!"

"We have to go," Chase says, dropping his forcefield. His face is still as white as paper. "They're headed for the penthouse, I know it. Fly us there."

Kaz looks at him, thinks about cracking a joke or asking a question or doing anything to break up the heart-hammering, wrenching _weirdness_ of the last few minutes. Instead he says, "Yeah, okay," and he scoops up his boyfriend and he takes for the skies.

* * *

Skylar finds Oliver in Mission Command, neurotically reorganizing and labeling a bunch of Douglas and Chase's research on the shapeshifters. "Hey," she says, hopping up to sit on the counter beside him. "How's it going?"

Oliver doesn't look up from the files he's skimming. "You here to mope some more?"

Skylar makes a face. "I'm an alien. I don't 'mope.'"

"Yeah, right, mopey," Oliver says, tearing his eyes away from the paper to give her a wry smile. "I don't know what it's about but you're definitely moping about something."

She scowls, casts around for something to retaliate. They've been friends for long enough that he can read her a little too well, but two can play at that game. "You wanna tell me where you keep sneaking off to?"

Oliver pales. "Sneaking off? I don't know what you're talking about," he says, avoiding her gaze. "I, uh, I mean, I've got, you know. Errands."

"Errands," Skylar repeats skeptically, but elects to drop the subject— for now. She huffs and runs a hand through her hair. "You ever miss the old days?" she says. "I mean, Chase and Bree have all these allies and enemies, this… huge background. Do you ever miss when it was just you, me and Kaz being dumb kids at Mighty Med?"

Oliver shrugs, setting down the file he's been looking at. "Our world got bigger," he tells her. "That's not a bad thing."

And then one of the rock walls gets pulverized and an unfamiliar young man and young woman step into Mission Command. The guy's hands crackle with residual energy giving off a green hue.

Oliver frowns. "Okay," he sighs. "Maybe it is a bad thing."

* * *

Tasha and Bree burst through the hyperlift doors into Mission Command. "We heard the intruder alarm," Bree gasps, trying to take in the a scene. For one thing, there are two Skylars looking back at her.

For another, an old enemy is smirking at her from the center of the room.

"Sebastian?" Bree says, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Stuff like this," Sebastian says, sending a burst of green energy at Oliver, who gets knocked back and hits the floor.

Both Skylars yell his name. One of them is clearly just playing the part, but which one? "Bree," Tasha says, "which Skylar is real?"

Bree whooshes toward one of them and takes a big whiff. "This one," she says, avoiding eye contact with Skylar. "I know because she keeps stealing my shampoo."

Shapeshifter-Skylar morphs into her default form, a dark-haired girl with a sour expression. "Well, crap," she sighs, and then hightails it toward the hyperlift, shoving Tasha aside on her way up.

* * *

When Kaz and Chase get to the penthouse, Oliver is there waiting for them. "Thank God you guys are here," he says. "Some dude just showed up and kidnapped Skylar. We have to get down to the Centium City park."

"Sebastian," Chase grumbles. He grabs Kaz's arm. "Come on, let's go."

But Kaz shakes his head, narrowing his eyes at Oliver. "I don't think so." He stalks forward.

"Kaz? Buddy?" Oliver says, looking concerned. "Everything okay?"

"The _real_ Oliver has a mole… right here!" Kaz yells, pointing a finger beneath Oliver's chin. He immediately follows the gesture up by putting "Oliver" in a headlock. The shapeshifter reveals herself.

"You're too late anyway," Riley says, wriggling in Kaz's arms. "Sebastian's got what he wants. And soon, so will my family."

"Yeah, yeah," Kaz says. "Chase? Can you bubble her?"

"They're not _bubbles._ "

"Just do it."

Chase puts a forcefield around Riley, making sure it's impenetrable.

"That should hold her until the League gets here," Kaz says, sliding his phone back into his pocket. "Let's go see what we're dealing with."

Chase is usually the one to take charge in these kind of situations, despite giving up the title of Mission Leader awhile ago. Typically, it would be him telling Kaz what they should do, but seeing Sebastian has thrown him for a loop.

He's grateful to Kaz for stepping up.

"So," Chase says as they head for the door. "You know all of Oliver's moles by memory?"

"Uh, yeah," Kaz says. "Why?"

"Nothing," Chase says. "Do you know all of mine?"

"Don't be silly; you don't have any moles," Kaz says. "Your skin is smooth, like a dolphin."

* * *

Back in Mission Command, Sebastian's hand slices through the air and Bree collapses. "Bree!" Skylar yells, dropping to check on her teammate sprawled on the floor. Chase and Kaz arrive just in time to watch helplessly as Sebastian grabs Tasha and twists her arm, hard, causing her to cry out.

He thrusts his hand beneath her chin, and they've all seen the damage he can do from a distance. None of them even want to _think_ about what he might be able to do at such a close range.

"You're going to order the release of every shapeshifter in Mighty Max," Sebastian sneers. Oliver opens his mouth to say something but Sebastian silences him with a glare. "And if you don't have the authority to do that, you're going to break them out yourself."

"We don't answer to you," Kaz says, ready to leap into action, but Chase holds out an arm. His face is as white as a sheet.

"Guys… guys, don't," he says weakly, eyes frozen on Sebastian and Tasha. "He's got my mom."

Bree's still out cold, with Skylar kneeling over her. Oliver, Chase and Kaz stand there stricken, unable to do anything. No one's willing to risk Tasha's life.

They're all staring at Sebastian's face, so no one sees Tasha jab her elbow into Sebastian's solar plexus. But everyone sees her stomp down on his foot and whip back to punch him in the face. She twists out of his grip and kicks him again in the crotch for good measure. Sebastian goes down like a sack of flour.

Kaz, Oliver, Skylar and Chase stare in awe as Tasha straightens her blouse. "What?" she says. "Four of my kids are bionic superheroes with a ton of powerful enemies. I've been taking krav maga for _years_."

Tasha goes to check on Bree while Chase crosses the room to stand above Sebastian, ready for him if he tries to get back up. "The League of Heroes are on their way," he says. "And this time when you get locked up, no one's going to come break you out."

"We'll see about that," Sebastian spits. His eyes fall on Kaz, and he smirks. Dropping his voice, he tells Chase, "He's just with you now until he finds somebody better."

Chase tightens his jaw. "I don't care," he says. Whether he means he doesn't care what Sebastian has to say or he doesn't care if it's the truth, Sebastian doesn't find out, because that's when two guys from the League get there.

* * *

That night, Tasha takes the girls out for dinner so they can unwind a little. Oliver disappears (he's been doing that more and more lately), and Kaz finds Chase standing on the balcony. "Hey," he says, taking Chase's hand and kissing his cheek. "You alright?"

"I…" he starts, prepared to lie, but he stops himself. This is Kaz. He can tell him the truth. "Seeing Sebastian again really messed me up," he admits.

"I can tell," Kaz says. "I heard what he said, by the way. About me only being with you until I find someone better?"

Chase's eyes widen, and he seems alarmed. "You heard that?"

"Yeah," he says, "and it's the biggest pile of manure I've ever heard. Chase, you're the best guy I know." He tangles their fingers together tighter. "You're who I want. And if I ever see Sebastian again, I… I'm gonna light his pants on fire, okay?"

Chase smiles. "Sounds good to me."

"Because he's a _liar_."

"Yeah I got that."

"Okay," Kaz says, smiling back, and he leans forward to kiss Chase. Maybe someday they'll get to go on a genuine date without it getting interrupted. But this moment right here, it's pretty perfect.


	9. Game Over

"Everyone stay sharp," Skylar advises, stalking through the halls of the Centium City town hall. "The target should be here any moment." The Elite Force received a tip that Bomb-Voyage intended to plant explosives in the mayor's office in an assassination attempt. They're here after-hours to stop him before he ever gets into the office.

"Oliver and I will go east, you three go west," Chase advises. "Everyone clear?"

"Got it," Kaz says.

"Let's do this," Oliver says.

"YES! Got it," Bree cheers, her eyes glued to her phone. The rest of her team turns to glare at her. "I just caught a Bulbasaur," she explains, turning around her phone to show them the screen.

"Oh my God, are you serious?" Skylar sighs. Oliver and Chase both look irritated; Kaz looks kind of impressed.

"What?" Bree scowls. "It's not my fault the mayor's office is a Pokestop."

"Put that away," Chase says. "We all need to be absolutely focused."

"But I just set a Lure."

" Bree ."

"Fine, fine," she sighs, tucking her phone in her pocket. At that second, they hear movement in the corridor behind them. "Oh! D'you think that's him?"

Chase and Skylar lead the surge to tackle Bomb-Voyage. Once he's down on the floor and secured, Oliver checks on the explosives to make sure none of them are set to go off. Fortunately, none of their timers have been set yet.

"Alright," Chase says, dusting off his hands while they wait for the League. "Good work, team."

Bree's phone starts playing the telltale music and Chase whirls around to glare at her. "What?" she says. "We caught the bad guy! I'm just trying to catch some Pokemon."

* * *

The next day, Chase decides to treat himself by making an omelet. He tosses in cheese, chives and mushrooms, watching his concoction sizzle on the stove. "Mm mm mm," Kaz says, coming up behind him and putting his hands on Chase's waist. "That smells amazing."

"Do you want one?"

"God no," Kaz says, spinning around to grab his Sugar Bombs from the top cabinet. "I'll stick with my ridiculously unhealthy cereal, thanks." Chase makes a noise of disgust, but his eyes are full of affection and adoration. Just eating breakfast with his boyfriend— his boyfriend — feels like a privilege he never thought he'd have.

"Hey," Skylar says, stomping downstairs while Chase is folding his omelet. "Have you guys been following the news?"

"Huh?" Kaz says, looking up from his bowl of cereal, milk trailing down his chin. "What news?"

Skylar makes a face at his messy eating and then continues. "Parents are reporting missing children all over Centium City. The police don't have any leads."

"You think it's Roman and Riker's siblings?" Chase asks.

"I don't know who's doing it," Skylar says, "and I don't really care. Whoever's behind this, we have to stop them."

"Amen," Kaz says, shoveling cereal into his mouth. "Let's go sleuthing. I'll wrangle up the Ollie-Pop."

"Where's Bree?" Skylar says.

"She went for a run earlier this morning," Kaz tells her. Both Skylar and Chase turn to stare at him. "What?"

"She has super-speed," Chase points out.

"So?"

"So," Skylar says, "her 'runs' don't usually last more than two minutes."

Kaz shrugs, not really concerned. "She's probably just getting some fresh air, then," he says.

"I'm going to call her," Skylar says. "You guys get ready. The sooner we get all these children back home to their parents, the better."

* * *

Bree ignores the call from Skylar, pressing the red decline button so she can focus on what's really important— Pokemon Go.

She glances at the screen again just to make sure she's not seeing things. But no, it's really there— a Gyrados, just yards away. She keeps walking, excitement building in her chest. She never expected she'd be able to find such a powerful Pokemon right here in the middle of Centium City.

Sure, she'd been catching Magikarp in the hopes of maybe evolving one to Gyrados eventually, but catching one would be so much easier. She keeps following the blips on her app that tell her which way to go.

They lead her to what looks like a closed-down arcade. And no matter how close she's standing to the doors, that Gyrados remains elusively out of reach.

The door is unlocked, though. So Bree goes inside.

* * *

Once everyone's suited up, the Elite Force— minus one— heads out. "I reached out to one of the parents whose kid went missing," Skylar explains, perched on the top of the balcony, prepared to take flight. "She's willing to talk to us, so… just stay close and follow me, okay?"

"Where's Bree?" Oliver asks, looking around like Bree might materialize from behind the patio furniture.

"I don't know," Skylar says, mouth in a tight line. "We don't have time to wait for her. Let's go." Skylar takes off, with Oliver following close behind. Kaz carries Chase and the four of them fly through the bustling spires of Centium City.

"I can't believe Bree would ditch us like this," Chase gripes, wriggling in Kaz's grip. No matter how many times he gets flown around, he never gets used to it. Chase prefers his feet planted on the ground, or at least on the floor of an advanced and reliable airplane or space shuttle. "I thought she was starting to be a little more responsible, but maybe I was wrong."

"You don't have to do that, you know," Kaz says, just loud enough to be heard over the wind rushing past them.

"Do what?"

Kaz sighs. "You're worried about your sister, so you're acting like you're just pissed off at her. But you're really, really worried," he says. "Right?" Chase grumbles a reply. "It's okay. You can be worried. Whatever's going on, we'll figure it out."

"I'm sure she's fine," Chase says, trying to convince himself. "As soon as we get back home, I'll check for her GPS location on the computers."

"Sounds like a plan," Kaz says.

* * *

The mother who spoke with Skylar looks frantic by the time they reach her. Her eyes are wide and watery, and she's clutching a dish towel in her hands that she can't seem to stop wringing and picking at. "Mrs. Jones? I'm Skylar Storm," Skylar says, shaking the woman's hand. "May we come in?"

"Please," Mrs. Jones says, stepping aside so Oliver, Kaz, Chase and Skylar can walk into her home. "My son was there, you know, at the carnival. He saw you save all those people. I thought… I thought, if anyone can find my Cody, it's those Elite Force heroes."

"That's what we're here for, ma'am," Oliver says in the deepest voice he can muster. Kaz rolls his eyes at his friend.

"Can you tell us when you last saw Cody?" Skylar asks gently.

Mrs. Jones nods, but it takes her a moment to compose herself. "He… he left for school yesterday morning," she says. "But then he never came home in the afternoon. I called and called him, but he didn't answer. I stayed up all night and he never came home!"

"We'll find him," Chase promises. "Do you have any kind of tracker on his phone? Find My Friends or something?"

"N-no," Mrs. Jones says. "We think it's good for Cody to have his privacy… he's almost fifteen, you know, so we thought… And now I just feel stupid. I wish I knew where he was."

"Cody's going to be okay," Oliver says, awkwardly putting a hand over hers. Mrs. Jones at least seems to appreciate the comfort.

"Oh… you know, he has been playing that Pokeyball game a lot," she says, her worried eyes flitting from Oliver to Chase. "I don't know much about it, but it keeps track of his location, I think. Maybe… maybe you could call the company and have them track his location?"

Chase frowns. It's unlikely, but he doesn't want to disappoint the woman. "That's a great lead," he says. "Thank you."

* * *

Later, the team stops at a hot dog cart to refuel. "How are we supposed to find these kids?" Skylar laments, squirting a generous amount of mustard on her dog. Kaz's hot dog is piled so high with onions, relish, chili and cheese that it's barely recognizable as a hot dog anymore.

"Is it possible they're just running away?" Oliver asks. "Kids do that sometime."

"So many of them, all at the same time?" Chase asks, striping his hot dog with even, precise lines of ketchup and mustard. "Not likely. Unless the Pied Piper's in town."

"Isn't that the guy that picked the pack of pickled peppers?" Kaz asks, chomping down on his monstrosity of a meal.

"No, that's Peter Piper," Oliver corrects him. "The Pied Piper was the main character on 'Orange is the New Black.'"

"Stop it, stop it now," Skylar sighs. "You're gonna give me a headache. Chase— please tell me you have some sciencey Star Trek way to track down Cody Jones and all the other missing kids."

"Yes! No. Maybe," Chase says. "Mrs. Jones said Cody was really active on Pokemon Go. I don't know anything about that dumb game, but Bree does. She might know a way we can use it to track down Cody."

"But first we gotta track down Bree," Kaz reminds him.

"Yeah," Chase says. "Finish eating, gang, then we'll go back to mission command."

* * *

Down in the underground sub-basement of the Elite Force headquarters, Chase uses the computer to pull up Bree's coordinates. "Looks like she's in a building on the corner of 7th and Banks," he says.

"Do you have little tracker chips in all of us or just Bree?" Skylar asks, raising an eyebrow.

Chase fidgets. "Is that a problem?"

"Uh, yeah ."

"Then… no, not all of you. Just Bree." Skylar gives him a look but says nothing. "Okay, we know where we're going. Let's go."

Chase is still annoyed that Bree's been AWOL all morning, but at least she might be able to provide them with the answers they need for this case. She won't answer her phone, but it's not like she can ignore the four of them in person.

With Skylar and Oliver flying and Kaz once again carrying Chase, they reach Bree's location in almost no time. And Chase can't lie— having his boyfriend carry him around all the time is kind of awesome. It definitely beats the bus.

* * *

Apparently, Bree's been hanging out in what looks like an old, broken-down arcade. "What the hell?" Kaz mumbles, pushing on the door. It doesn't open. He primes a fireball in his hand, prepared to melt the lock and open the door, but Oliver grabs his arm.

"Dude, no need to take chances," he says. "I'll just freeze the lock."

"Or," Skylar says, rolling her eyes at them. She steps forward and points to the sign on the door that says PULL. Kaz and Oliver shrug sheepishly while Skylar pulls open the door and steps into the creepy arcade.

It's creepy because, even though the overhead lights are off, all the games are on, playing their hypnotic 8-bit jingles. The glow of the outdated games is the only thing illuminating the room. Skylar spots Dig-Dug and Donkey Kong, but no Bree.

"Hello?" she calls, stepping into the room. The boys all follow behind her. "Bree? You in here?"

And then a figure steps from the shadows. "Have you come to play?" The voice is strange, too high-pitched and warped somehow… but unmistakably Bree.

"Don't scare me like that," Skylar says, walking closer to her friend. "Look, we need your help to—"

But suddenly Bree zooms forward, knocking her off balance. Skylar falls to the floor, landing hard on one arm. She hisses in pain and Bree's face looms above her, and that's when Skylar realizes what's wrong. Bree's eyes are… off . Instead of their usual warm brown they are bright like LED lights, cold and blue and somehow mechanical. A current passes through them as she stares.

"Bree?" Skylar whispers, horrified.

Bree tilts her head, smiles like a cat looking at a mouse. "Bree's not here right now."

* * *

Before Chase, Oliver and Kaz can react, the arcade is suddenly flooded with more people coming from the back room. Chase recognizes Cody Jones among them. They're all children, tweens and teens. And they all have eerie lit-up eyes just like Bree. "Think we found the missing kids," Kaz says.

"What do we do?" Oliver asks. For a moment, the children are all just standing there, staring, like a herd of trained soldiers.

Then they attack.

Kaz yells obscenities as a group of three kids tackles him and takes him down. When a burst of flame jumps from his right hand, the kids back off, survival instinct keeping them away. "Fire bad!" Kaz says, waving his hand around and guiding them back toward the others.

"Hey, careful," Chase advises, running battle strategies in his head. "They're just kids. They're being controlled. We don't want to hurt them."

"But they want to hurt us ," Oliver complains, raising ice shields in front of the crowd of children to keep them from getting closer. Some of the kids pound on the ice until cracks form. Others scramble over their peers to climb over the walls of ice and get to Oliver. Meanwhile, Skylar and Bree are still scrapping on the floor.

"Somebody is making them do this," Chase theorizes, using his molecularkinesis to nudge the kids away from himself and Kaz. "Whoever it is, they're in here with us. Kaz, help me clear a path toward the back."

The whole time, the music from the various arcade games keeps playing as the mind-controlled children advance.

Kaz scares off some of the kids by keeping a flame burning bright in one palm. With his help, Chase manages to get through the throng of kids even as they scratch and punch and, in one case, try to bite him. Finally, he reaches the back of the arcade.

"Keep them occupied," he tells Kaz. "Make sure no one gets hurt."

"Yeah… right," Kaz says. Before Chase can slip away, he grabs him and kisses him. Chase clings to Kaz, feeling the waves of urgency and fear and affection radiating off of him. When Kaz pulls away, he tosses up a haphazard grin. "Be careful, brainiac."

"Aren't I always?" Chase smirks. And then Kaz vanishes back into the arcade, leaving Chase to face whatever's ahead.

* * *

The back office of the arcade was probably where the previous owner handled business— ordering new consoles, looking over advertising mockups, stuff like that. Now it's being used for a far more nefarious business.

This door actually is locked, but it's nothing Chase's molecularkinesis can't handle. He throws open the office door and barges in.

The man sitting behind the desk is illuminated in a cool blue light by the screens he has set up around him. At least one of the screens seems to link to a surveillance camera out in the main arcade. The others just show strings of data being updated every second. "Oh good," the man says, folding his hands in front of him. "I was worried I'd have to deal with one of the actually powerful members of your team."

"Who are you?" Chase demands, hands clenched into fists at his sides. He's prepared to use his laser bo, but he doesn't want to play his hand too soon. Let this jerk think he's powerless. He'll show the guy wrong.

"My name is Ramsey," the man says, and Chase can see the family resemblance— the line of his jaw, the curve of his eyebrows. He looks like his brothers. "But you can call me Game Overlord."

Chase can't help it. He snickers. "That's your supervillain name? 'Game Overlord.'"

"Yes," Ramsey says, his lip curling. "It's… see, it's a play on the phrase 'Game Over.'"

"No, I get it," Chase says. "It's just phenomenally bad."

"And what's your codename, then?"

"Chase. We don't bother with codenames," he says, stepping forward. "We don't have anything to hide. Unlike you. What exactly have you done to those kids?"

He watches Ramsey— Game Overlord— falter between wanting to keep his plan a secret and wanting to gloat. In the end, his ego wins out. "It's ingenious, really," he says. "I'm a technopath. I can control and manipulate technology… like video games. I was able to infiltrate the Pokemon Go servers and use the game to brainwash several young gamers in Centium City."

"Pokemon Go?" Chase repeats. That explains why Bree got mind-whammied.

"Yes, isn't it perfect?" Ramsey says. "The access was right there. These kids, they play the game non-stop. None of them suspected that the game might be playing them right back. And now it's—"

"Game Over?" Chase guesses.

Ramsey scowls. "Precisely," he says. "They are all completely obedient and subservient to me. I could use my child army to amass wealth, to break my siblings out of jail… to destroy the Elite Force."

"Not likely," Chase says. He manifests his laser bo… and lunges.

* * *

On the arcade floor, Skylar and Bree are still locked in battle. Bree tries to use her plasmahands on Skylar, and Skylar's only barely fast enough to dodge. "Bree, snap out of it!" she shouts, lightning crackling in her hands. "We're your friends! We don't want to hurt you."

"I don't have friends," Bree declares, sending a proton ring flying. It nearly takes off Skylar's head. "I serve only the Game Overlord."

"Bree, please ." Skylar gets an opening and takes it. She jumps on Bree, letting her trajectory carry them both to the floor. Bree tries to kick her but Skylar manages to hold her down, straddling her waist. "Bree, I know you can fight this," she urges the other girl. "You know me, you know who I am. Please, please don't lose who you are. Come back to me, stay here."

"Get off!" Bree snarls, thrashing wildly. But the unearthly light in her eyes flickers, just for a second. Maybe, just maybe, Skylar is getting through to her.

"Bree Davenport, you are the coolest, strongest person I know," Skylar says, holding her wrists down to keep Bree from attacking her. "You've taken on the Incapacitator and Victor Krane. You can outrun anything . Come back to me, Bree."

"Bree… Bree is gone," Bree says, though she sounds more unsure this time. Again, her eyes flicker, and for just a second Skylar can see the real Bree shine through.

"Come on," she cries out, leaning close enough that her hair falls down and surrounds the two of them like a curtain. The fight around them feels far away. This is just the two of them now. "Bree…" Only one thing left to do. All cards on the table. "I love you, Bree. I'm in love with you. Don't leave me, please, please stay here with me."

The eerie light in her eyes flickers out for good, and it's just Bree looking up at her, startled, confused, overjoyed. Shocked, she leans up to press her lips to Skylar's, and Skylar is too surprised to move away.

And then Bree snaps back to hero-mode. "We gotta help these kids," she says, as Skylar rolls off of her.

* * *

Chase continues to fight Ramsey in the back office. "What kind of a monster turns kids into weapons?" he demands, using his laser bo to destroy one of Ramsey's computers.

Ramsey sneers. "The same kind of monster that created you , I imagine."

Chase's eyes widen and he strikes again, slicing the desk cleanly in two halves. "You're not getting away with this."

"Actually, I think I am," Ramsey says, and he gets a terrifying look on his face. Like he's already won. "As I said, I'm a technopath. I control technology. And what are you, Chase Davenport, but a machine pretending to be a boy?"

Chase's spine tingles and he pretends to be brave. But then, oh God, then he feels it. He can feel Ramsey hacking him just by looking at him. No matter how hard he fights it, his bionic brain begins to rewrite its programming. His laser bo vanishes. The thing he's always relied on, his brain, begins to turn on him…

"He's not a machine." Kaz is there, putting a hand on his shoulder. With his other hand, he hurls a fireball at Ramsey. It hits him square in the chest and lights his jacket on fire. The villain shrieks and sheds his jacket, stomping on it in an attempt to stamp out the flames.

Returned to his senses, Chase quickly dismantles the remaining screens, the ones boosting Ramsey's brainwashing signal. Behind him, he can hear the children stop fighting as they become themselves again.

"Thanks," Chase says, turning to Kaz. He's trying to act strong, but he can tell that Kaz knows how much Ramsey's threat rattled him.

"Anytime," Kaz says, pulling him into a hug.

* * *

Ramsey is taken to Mighty Max. The children are returned to their homes. Mrs. Jones hugs her son a lot and then she hugs all the Elite Force members, even Bree. "Thank you, thank you so much," she gushes, plying them with cookies. "Thank you for bringing my son home."

* * *

Later, Kaz and Oliver sit on the couch in the penthouse surrounded by everything they need for a whole night of Mario Kart— chips, soda and the rest of the cookies from Mrs. Jones. "Hey, Bree," Kaz calls over his shoulder. "Wanna join us?"

She smiles but shakes her head. "No thanks. I think I need to take a little break from video games for now."

"Understandable," Oliver says, bobbing his head. "You okay?"

"I… I'll be fine," Bree says. She's not okay right now, but she will be. "You guys have fun." She heads to the balcony, where Skylar is waiting.

* * *

"Hey." Skylar turns at the sound of Bree's voice. She looks stunning, even backlit by the light from inside. "Listen, I don't think I got a chance to say thank you back there. For snapping me out of it. It was… Thank you."

"Of course," Skylar says. Bree comes to stand beside her. Below them, Centium City is a maze of evening shadows and streetlights and people all just living their lives. "You're my teammate."

"Right," Bree says, picking at the hem of her sweater. "Skylar…" She looks up, smiling. "Skylar, I'm so glad you told me how you feel. Because—"

"Bree, wait—"

"Because, I mean, I don't know, I've never been in love before so I'm not totally sure what it feels like," Bree rushes on, "but I care a lot about you and I think you're amazing and beautiful and strong and—"

"Bree, stop ," Skylar says, holding her hands up. Bree's smile loses a little of its radiance. "I just… I just said those things to break the Game Overlord's hold on you."

"... What?"

"I didn't…" Skylar swallows, staring at her feet. "I didn't mean any of it."

"No," Bree says, voice wavering. "No, I don't believe you."

"I'm sorry," Skylar says, still unable to meet her eyes. "I know that's not fair but in the moment, it was all I could think to do. I just… I was just making stuff up."

"No," Bree says, anger spiking in her voice. "No, you're lying!"

"I'm sorry," Skylar says again, helpless, resigned. "Bree, I would have said anything to save your life."

"I don't believe this," Bree says, her pride bruised, her heart shattered. Skylar still won't look her in the eye. "I… I… You knew how I felt about you and you used that to… Screw you, Skylar Storm," she says, and in a blur she's gone, vanished into the house or maybe miles away.

Skylar stands alone on the terrace.

And then the window above her slides open, and she looks up to see Chase watching her. "You heard all that?" Skylar says.

"Bionic hearing," Chase says apologetically. "... You okay?"

Skylar drifts up toward him and perches on the windowsill. "No," she says. "Why are you even talking to me? I was awful to Bree."

"Well, yes, you broke my sister's heart," Chase acknowledges. "But you also saved her life. I can't be angry with you for that."

Skylar sighs, hugging her knees to her chest. The night air ruffles her hair. "I don't deserve a friend like Bree," Skylar says. "I don't deserve any of you. I hate myself for lying to Bree."

"Hey," Chase says gently. "It was a high-stakes situation. There was a lot going on. Sometimes we do things we shouldn't when there's lives at stake."

"No… that's not it," Skylar says, and now she doesn't sound resigned. She sounds deeply, impossibly sad . "In the arcade… everything I said to her was the truth," she says, almost whispers. "What I told her just now, about how I don't have feelings for her… that was the lie."

Chase shakes his head like he's trying to get water out of his ears. "What? Why?"

"Because… Chase, when all this is over, when Roman and Riker's siblings are all locked up… I have to go back to Caldera," she says. "My people are locked in civil war. I made a commitment to track down the people responsible for destroying Mighty Med, but once that's finally done, I can't stay here. I owe it to my people to go back home and fight."

"Skylar…" But Chase doesn't know what to say. They joke and jibe all the time about her being an alien, but he doesn't often take in the implications.

"So… so I can't have attachments back on Earth," she goes on, even though her voice keeps hitching like she might cry. "No matter how I feel about Bree… it doesn't matter. I'm leaving. Breaking her heart now is easier than having to break it later."

There aren't words. Chase pulls his friend and teammate into a hug, and they stay there for a good long while as the moon sails higher in the sky.


End file.
